French  Soldiers'  Letters 


AMERICAN  OUVROIR  FUND 

^ME*t**fcT^ENUE  NEW  YORK 

681-5TH  AVE. 


LEGION  D'HONNEUR 


FOREWORD 

THE  American  Ouvroir,  occupying  the  Holophane  Building, 
156  Boulevard  Haussmann,  Paris,  has  since  the  war  started 
received  over  3,000  letters  from  soldiers.  Some  of  these  are 
published  in  this  book,  not  as  specimens  of  literature,  but  be- 
cause it  is  thought  that  the  publication  of  these  letters  may  in  a 
measure  convey  to  Americans  some  of  the  s'pirit  and  atmosphere 
of  the  great  war  in  Europe.  Where  soldiers  are  forbidden  by 
military  regulation  to  give  any  particulars  regarding  their  where- 
abouts or  what  is  taking  place,  it  is  of  course  difficult  for  them 
to  make  their  letters  interesting  or  exciting  in  the  ordinary  sense. 
Therefore,  this  collection  of  letters  may  to  some  appear  to  be 
somewhat  monotonous,  because  on  the  surface  there  seems  to  be 
so  little  difference  in  the  various  letters  received.  We  think, 
however,  that  anyone  who  reads  them  from  the  standpoint  of  the 
heart  and  not  of  the  head  will,  in  many  of  them,  see  lives  of 
great  courage,  self-sacrifice,  and  especially  showing  wonderful 
patience.  Amongst  the  3,000  letters  received  from  soldiers,  those 
of  a  complaining  nature  were  practically  non-existent. 

If  the  letters  received  by  the  American  Ouvroir  in  Paris  may 
be  taken  as  types  representing  the  average  state  of  mind  of  the 
French  soldier,  then  it  would  appear  that  the  French  soldier  does 
not  look  upon  himself  in  any  sense  as  a  hero,  but  merely  as  a 
man  who  in  the  simplest  way  possible  is  doing  his*  duty.  The 
courageous  way  in  which  most  of  these  men  take  their  hard  lives 
at  the  front,  surrounded  as  they  are  continually  by  danger  and 
discomforts,  with  death  or  maiming  a  daily  possibility,  is  in  itself 
worthy  of  admiration.  When  considered  in  conjunction  with  the 
fact  that  their  homes  are  in  the  invaded  portions  of  France,  that 
these  soldiers  have  not  heard  from  their  wives,  children  or  par- 
ents since  the  war  started,  these  otherwise  simple  letters  should 
increase  our  respect  for  a  nation  which  produces  such  men  by  the 
million.  When  one  gets  to  personally  know  these  men  on  their 
short  leaves  and  sees  how  they  take  what  would  appear  to  us  a 
great  tragedy  in  such  a  simple  and  unaffected  manner,  one  feels 
that  it  is  a  rare  privilege  to  be  able  to  help  them. 

"I  would  be  grateful  if  you  could  send  me  a  pair  of  socks," 
a  soldier  will  write,  and  then  adds  that  he  has  not  heard  from 
his  wife  and  three  children  since  the  war  started  and  does  not 
know  whether  they  are  starving,  or  even  alive.  The  smallness 
and  humbleness  of  the  request,  coupled  with  the  real  tragic  posi- 
tion in  which  the  man  is  placed,  constitutes  something  that  one 


•3 


has  to  have  actually  lived  with  to  appreciate.  And  then  the  vast 
majority  of  these  French  soldiers  are  such  a  gentle  lot,  so  kindly 
and  genial,  that  it  seems  almost  impossible  to  realize  that  they 
have  just  come  on  leave  from  the  first  line  of  trenches,  where 
they  have  been  engaged  in  throwing  bombs  and  hand  grenades 
at  the  enemy  and  engaging  in  fierce  night  attacks  with  the 
bayonet.  I  remember  seeing  one  such  gentle  creature — perhaps  I 
might  say  gentle-man — lying  in  a  bed  in  one  of  the  French  hospitals 
with  a  very  pale,  delicate  face  and  a  long  beard,  while  on  the  lapel 
of  his  bed  jacket  was  pinned  the  cross  of  the  Legion  of  Honor. 
This  man,  who  was  small  in  stature  and  delicate  in  build,  had  held 
up  a  German  armor-plate  automobile,  armed  with  a  rapid-firing 
gun  and  a  crew  of  several  Germans.  The  result  of  this  hold- 
up was  that  the  armor-plated  automobile  was  captured,  although 
the  man  in  question  almost  lost  his  life  in  doing  so,  and  will 
probably  be  a  human  wreck  for  the  remainder  of  his  life.  This 
man's  face  was  almost  ascetic  in  its  spirituality,  and  yet  back 
of  all  this  gentleness  lay  the  moral  courage  which  makes  the 
French  soldier  one  of  the  best  in  the  world. 

On  an  automobile  trip  from  Paris  to  the  south  of  France  and 
back,  occupying  several  weeks,  during  which  time  a  stop  was 
made  at  many  of  the  small  garrison  towns,  during  the  second 
month  of  the  war,  when  these  towns  were  packed  with  tens  of 
thousands  of  French  soldiers  preparing  to  go  to  the  front,  I 
never  saw  a  single  French  soldier  under  the  influence  of  drink, 
and  yet  all  the  wine  shops  were  open  all  day,  as  usual,  excepting 
that  they  were  closed  at  eight  o'clock  at  night. 

I  can  even  say  more.  Since  the  beginning  of  the  war  until  I 
left  France,  the  end  of  October,  1915,  that  is,  for  a  period  of 
fifteen  months,  I  have  never  seen  a  single  French  soldier  under 
the  influence  of  drink  and  I  have  seen  tens  of  thousands  of  them 
within  a  few  days  at  a  time.  I  have  never  had  a  woman  or  a 
man  beg  from  me  on  the  streets,  either  in  Paris  or  in  any  of  the 
towns  I  have  been  in.  Perhaps  you  may  say  that  this  would 
prove  that  the  poverty  is  not  very  great,  but  this  is  not  so ;  the 
poverty,  in  fact  the  misery  and  want,  are  tremendous,  but  the  self- 
respect  of  the  French  men  and  French  women  is  too  great  to 
allow  them  to  become  beggars. 

This  war  to  a  French  man,  and  even  more  to  a  French  woman, 
is  a  religion.  They  are  convinced  that  they  are  fighting  for  the 
liberty  of  the  individual  all  over  the  world  as  against  the  slavery 
of  any  form  of  dominating  organization.    Inspired  by  this  ideal 


4 


(and  I  believe  it  to  be  a  true  one)  French  men  and  French 
women  do  not  consider  that  their  lives,  bodies  or  properties  be- 
long to  them  any  more,  but  that  they  belong  to  a  just  cause  and 
must  be,  if  necessary,  given  not  resigned,  but  joyfully. 

The  manner  in  which  French  women  bear  the  loss  of  hus- 
bands or  sons  in  this  war  is  something  marvellous.  It  would 
appear  as  if  they  were  sustained  by  some  spiritual  power  and 
it  cannot  be  owing  to  the  fact  that  they  believe  their  cause  is  a 
just  and  noble  one,  but  that  it  is  such  a  one  in  fact. 

For  various  good  reasons  we  do  not  give  either  the  name  or 
the  address  of  the  writers  of  these  letters,  but  we  have  all  these 
facts,  and  if  any  one  of  these  letters  interests  a  reader  sufficiently 
so  that  he  or  she  would  like  to  help  the  man  or  woman  who  wrote 
it,  the  American  Ouvroir  will  be  glad  to  be  used  as  the  inter- 
mediary for  sending  to  such  soldier  clothing  or  comforts  and  also 
for  forwarding  to  him  any  letters  and  translating  these  into  French 
before  doing  so.  Under  the  heading  "Correspondence"  we  pub- 
lish a  few  of  the  many  letters  received  from  soldiers  who  write 
to  us  because  they  know  we  take  a  loving  interest  in  them  and 
they  consider  that  we  in  a  measure,  temporarily  at  least,  replace 
the  families  of  whom  they  have  no  news. 

Any  American  desiring  to  become  Godmother  or  Godfather 
to  a  soldier  at  the  front  who  is  deprived  of  all  family  ties  and 
has  had  no  news  of  his  wife  or  children  since  the  war  began, 
can,  by  writing  to  the  American  Ouvroir,  20  Fifth  Avenue,  New 
York  City,  obtain  the  name  and  address  of  a  soldier  whose  case 
is  worthy  of  such  kind  personal  interest.  The  American  Ouvroir 
will  be  glad  to  translate  all  such  correspondence,  both  going  and 
coming,  in  order  to  facilitate  Americans  showing  a  personal 
interest  in  these  unfortunate  soldiers  and  so  assure  their  receiv- 
ing from  time  to  time  encouraging  letters. 

It  is  immaterial  that  the  ocean  separates  the  correspondents, 
for  the  right  touch  of  feeling  will  always  do  away  with  the  draw- 
backs of  distance. 

If  Americans  only  knew  the  mental  suffering  that  tens  of 
thousands  of  these  French  soldiers,  deprived  of  all  news  of  their 
families,  go  through,  and  how  grateful  they  are  for  the  smallest 
exhibition  of  personal  interest  and  human  sympathy,  I  am  sure 
that  there  would  be  thousands  of  Americans  who  would  each  one 
write  to  some  French  soldier,  sending  from  time  to  time  small 
sums  of  money  to  the  American  Ouvroir,  which  would  then  send, 
in  the  name  of  the  donor,  a  pair  of  woolen  socks  at  one  time  or 


5 


a  warm  shirt  or  other  article  another  time,  and  so  on,  as  needed, 
and  so  give  to  the  man  the  hope  that  comes  with  the  conviction 
that  there  is  some  one  individual,  even  if  he  is  across  the  Atlantic, 
who  takes  a  little  personal,  loving  interest  in  his  misfortune. 

Many  of  the  letters  given  are  addressed  to  us  almost  as  if 
we  were  members  of  their  own  family,  calling  us  their  bene- 
factress, dear  Godmother,  second  mother,  etc.,  and  frequently 
they  terminate  with  the  most  touching  and  sometimes  even  piti- 
ful gratitude;  but  we  have  thought  best  in  this  collection  to,  as 
a  rule,  omit  these  personal  parts  of  the  letter  and  merely  transmit 
the  substance  of  the  letter  itself,  and  its  spirit,  as  far  as  a  transla- 
tion permitted.  O.  M. 

IF 

If  you  can  keep  your  head  when  all  about  you 

Are  losing  theirs  and  blaming  it  on  you; 
If  you  can  trust  yourself  when  all  men  doubt  you, 

But  make  allowance  for  their  doubting,  too; 
If  you  can  wait  and  not  be  tired  by  waiting, 

Or  being  lied  about  don't  deal  in  lies, 
Or  being  hated  don't  give  way  to  hating, 

And  yet  don't  look  too  good,  nor  talk  too  wise. 

If  you  can  dream — and  not  make  dreams  your  master; 

If  you  can  think — and  not  make  thoughts  your  aim, 
If  you  can  meet  with  Triumph  and  Disaster, 

And  treat  those  two  impostors  just  the  same, 
If  you  can  bear  to  hear  the  truth  you've  spoken 

Twisted  by  knaves  to  make  a  trap  for  fools, 
Or  watch  the  things  you  gave  your  life  to,  broken, 

And  stoop  and  build  'em  up  with  worn-out  tools. 

If  you  can  make  one  heap  of  all  your  winnings  N 

And  risk  it  on  one  turn  of  pitch  and  toss, 
And  lose,  and  start  again  at  your  beginnings 

And  never  breathe  a  word  about  your  loss; 
If  you  can  force  your  heart  and  nerve  and  sinew 

To  serve  your  turn  long  after  they  are  gone, 
And  so  hold  on  when  there  is  nothing  in  you 

Except  the  Will  which  says  to  them,  "Hold  on!" 

If  you  can  talk  with  crowds  and  keep  your  virtue, 

Or  walk  with  Kings,  nor  lose  the  common  touch, 
If  neither  foes  nor  loving  friends  can  hurt  you, 

If  all  men  count  with  you;  but  none  too  much; 
If  you  can  fill  the  unforgiving  minute 

With  sixty  seconds'  worth  of  distance  run, 
Yours  is  the  Earth  and  everything  that's  in  it, 

And — which  is  more — you'll  be  a  Man,  my  son! 

— Rudyard  Kipling. 
[The  French  are  a  living  example  of  this.] 


6 


THE  SPIRIT  OF  FRANCE 


By  the  Rev.  8.  N.  Watson,  D.D. 
Rector  of  the  American  Church  in  Paris 
(Extracts  from  The  Churchman,  N.  Y.,  Jan.  22,  1915) 

There  is  a  town  called  Niort,  in  the  Deux-Sevres,  which  does  not  seem 
to  be  noted  for  anything  much  before  now;  but  in  recent  days,  from  a 
little  printery  in  the  Place  du  Temple,  there  has  come  a  touching  tes- 
timony of  the  heart  utterance  of  France,  in  the  form  of  a  little  book 
which  sells  for  two  sous,  of  which  at  last  reports  69,000  had  been 
printed;  and  which  is  called  "Prieres  et  Chants,  pour  le  temps  de  la 
Guerre,"  "Songs  and  Prayers,  for  the  Time  of  War."  No  one  knows  who 
is  the  author  of  this  little  book,  whether  a  priest  in  some  little  village 
who  has  time  to  think  deeply  in  his  hours  of  leisure  between  the  altar 
and  the  people;  or  some  aumonier  at  the  front  who  knows  how  the 
soldiers  think  and  live;  but  of  a  certainty  it  is  someone  who  knows 
well  the  France  of  the  country  villages,  and  the  France  battling  so 
bravely  for  its  life  against  the  invader;  the  France  of  the  Government 
councils,  and  the  France  of  the  people  whose  only  politics  is  that  they 
love  their  country  with  a  devotion  not  equalled,  it  seems  to  me,  by  any 
other  nation,  and  that,  because  France  is  one  people,  in  blood  and  in 
origin  and  in  tradition  of  race;  and  above  all  the  man  who  is  the  author 
of  this  book  knows  France  as  a  warrior  following  the  lead  of  Jeanne 
d'Arc,  whose  trust  is  in  God. 

One  of  the  most  appealing  testimonies  of  this  little  book  is  a 
"Prayer  for  Our  Soldiers,  and  for  Those  Who  Love  Them":  "O  God,  pro- 
tect those  who  are  at  the  front,  officers  and  soldiers.  Give  to  them  all 
courage,  and  the  willing  spirit  of  self-sacrifice;  May  they  keep  in  their 
hearts  an  unshakable  faith  in  the  justice  of  the  cause  for  which  we 
are  fighting,  in  its  certain  triumph,  and  in  the  eternal  recompense 
which  awaits  them.  To  the  Commander-in-chief,  give,  we  pray  Thee, 
the  Genius  of  Victory.  May  he  be  nobly  seconded  by  officers  whose  cau- 
tion equals  their  bravery;  who  have  a  courage  which  never  yields,  yet 
with  a  respect  for  the  lives  of  the  men  such  as  will  spare  them  useless 
sacrifices.  Guide  the  steps  of  the  men  who  watch  the  highways  of  the 
country,  as  night  and  day  they  march  their  beats.  Keep  the  sentries 
from  danger  and  surprise;  sustain  them  in  their  watchful  vigilance 
during  the  hours  which  run  by  so  slowly.  To  our  brave  fellows  in  the 
trenches,  who  must  stay  there  'immobiles,'  always  in  danger  of  attack, 
always  with  death  at  their  side,  give,  we  pray  Thee,  unyielding  devo- 
tion, that  the  tragic  monotony  of  their  life  do  not  weary  them  out.  To 
the  wounded  on  the  field  of  battle,  in  the  ambulances  and  in  the  hos- 
pitals, give  soul-strength,  that  they  may  accept  the  suffering,  counting 
it  all  as  new  grace  to  living.  To  the  dead,  whose  bodies  lie  in  unknown 
graves;  to  those  who  fell  in  the  thick  of  the  fight  and  whose  resting- 
place  is  the  trench  of  the  battle-field;  to  those  whose  bodies  lie  in  the 
fertile  fields  or  by  the  wayside,  marked  with  but  a  little  cross  on  which 
the  name  is  scarcely  visible;  to  all  the  dead  who  lie  in  village  ceme- 
teries, or  on  the  frontiere;  let  peace  be  theirs;  and  may  Light  Eternal 
shine  upon  them. 

"To  those  who  wait  at  home,  O  God,  heart-broken ;  mothers  who 
wait  their  children;  women  who  wait  their  husbands;  girls  who  wait 
their  fiances;  little  ones  who  wait  their  fathers;  give  them  all,  O  God, 
sure  faith  that  their  own  will  come  again,  here  or  in  heaven.  Keep 


7 


them  faithful,  all  of  them,  to  their  absent  ones;  remembering  their 
pledges  of  affection;  and  finding  in  prayer  their  refuge  and  consolation. 
And  to  us  all,  O  God,  to  us  all  who  pray,  and  to  our  loved  ones  for  whom 
we  pray,  give  Peace,  and  Courage,  and  Patience,  and  Hope.  Amen." 

What  a  litany  of  faith  and  devotion  these  words  contain!  Here  is 
the  cry  of  the  whole  heart  of  a  suffering  people.  Here  is  the  whole 
creed  of  the  everlasting  Church.  Here  is  the  whole  spirit  of  prophecy, 
and  the  whole  hope  of  the  glorious  Gospel  of  a  suffering  Saviour  of 
mankind.  It  is  the  cry  of  France;  it  is  the  heart  of  France  which  is 
speaking;  communion  with  the  Everlasting  Father,  with  the  Christ- 
Saviour  who  knew  a  human  mother,  with  the  ever-abiding  Spirit  of 
God. 

I  do  not  know  a  more  faithful  vision,  a  greater  prayer  of  faith, 
than  comes  from  the  heart  of  France  to-day;  and  it  is  possible  of  utter- 
ance, this  cry  of  faith,  because  the  faith  exists,  in  the  heart  of  France. 

Now  I  want  by  this  evidence  to  make  plain  what  it  all  means — this 
pure  and  primitive  Christian  teaching  and  aspiration  which  is  moving 
France  to-day;  for  it  is  everywhere  in  France!  I  have  talked  with 
peasants  by  the  roadside;  with  old  women  keeping  the  little  shop, 
whose  men  were  at  the  front,  and  whose  daughters  were  working  in 
the  fields;  I  have  talked  with  soldiers  from  the  trenches,  and  with 
priests  from  country  villages,  and  with  people  in  the  towns  and  cities; 
and  there  is  no  question  about  it.  France  is  sustained  in  this  struggle 
by  a  superb  faith;  France  has  laid  hold  of  the  spiritual,  and  it  beats 
in  the  air;  it  vibrates  in  men's  souls,  it  lifts  them  up  till  they  hold  to 
"the  Rock  that  is  higher  than  they." 

It  is  a  lesson  to  us  all,  what  we  see  about  us  here  in  France,  in 
these  days  of  war.  This  little  book  of  Prieres  et  Chants,  pour  le  temps 
de  la  Guerre,  sold  at  two  sous,  interprets  it  to  us  aright.  It  is  the  lesson 
of  worship  and  reverence,  from  childhood  up,  never  forgotten,  which 
makes  it  possible  now  for  the  human  heart  of  a  nation  in  need  easily 
to  find  its  refuge  in  God. 

France  has  the  vision;  and  where  there  is  the  vision  the  people 
cannot  perish.    (End  of  extracts  from  Rev.  S.  N.  Watson's  article.) 


NOTICE 

It  is  not  generally  known  in  the  United  States  that  the  Germans  do  not  permit 
any  letters  to  be  sent  to  or  from  Belgium,  or  the  invaded  districts  of  France. 
After  several  vain  attempts  through  various  embassies  to  get  news  of  the  families 
of  certain  French  soldiers,  an  appeal  was  sent  by  us  to  the  head  offices  in  London 
of  the  Commission  for  Relief  in  Belgium,  in  answer  to  which  we  received  a  letter 
dated  London,  Sept.  6,  1915,  from  which  we  quote  the  following: 

"IT  IS  NEITHER  POSSIBLE  FOR  US  TO  GET  ANY  NEWS  TO  OR  FROM 
BELGIUM  OR  THE  NORTHERN  PART  OF  FRANCE,  AS  OUR  UNDERTAKINGS 
WITH  THE  GERMAN  AUTHORITIES  DO  NOT  ALLOW  US  TO  CARRY  ANY 
MESSAGES  WHATEVER,  EITHER  WRITTEN  OR  VERBAL." 

Again  it  is  sometimes  asked  why  the  French  Government  does  not  supply  suffi- 
cient clothing,  for  all  the  soldiers.  With  most  of  its  important  coal  mines  and 
factories  either  destroyed  or  in  the  hands  of  the  enemy,  and  with  five  millions  of 
soldiers  to  look  after,  France  has  accomplished  miracles  in  supplying  her  soldiers 
with  clothing  ;  she  has  almost  accomplished  the  impossible.  But  imports  of  im- 
mense quantities  of  clothing  either  come  irregularly  or  are  sunk  and  destroyed  in 
transit ;  therefore  soldiers  frequently,  especially  the  poor  and  needy  ones,  need 
individual  help  to  keep  themselves  supplied  with  socks,  underclothing  and  small 
necessities  and  comforts. 


S 


On  September  5,  1914,  on  the  eve  of  the  battle  of  the  Marne,  General 
Joffre  issued  the  following  army  order  which  was  read  to  the  soldiers 
of  all  the  French  armies  about  to  be  engaged: 

"officers,  soldiers:  — 

"at  a  moment  when  a  battle  is  about  to  begin  on  which  depends 
the  salvation  of  the  country,  it  is  important  that  all  should  be) 
reminded  1hat  the  time  has  passed  for  looking  backward  and  that 
all  our  efforts  must  be  given  to  attacking  and  throwing  back  the 
enemy.  a  troop  which  is  unable  to  advance  shall  at  all  costs  hold 
the  ground  conquered  and  be  killed  on  the  spot  rather  than  retreat. 

"under  present  circumstances  no  weakness  can  be  tolerated. 

(Signed)    "The  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  French  Armies, 

"JOFFRE." 


9 


WAIT  ! 


LETTERS  OF  APPEAL 


1548 — Having  heard  that  you  help  those  soldiers  who  are  in  need,  I  take 
the  liberty  of  writing  to  you  on  behalf  of  my  father.  This  is,  in  a  few 
words,  my,  or  rather  our  condition.  We  are  two  brothers,  both  in  the 
same  regiment,  and  as  we  are  from  a  town  occupied  by  the  enemy,  it  is 
impossible  for  us  to  receive  anything  from  our  parents.  But  what 
troubles  us  the  most  is  that  we  are  unable  to  help  our  poor  father, 
prisoner  in  Germany  since  October.  We  have  been  searching  for  him 
since  the  beginning  of  the  war  and  we  discovered  his  whereabouts  only 
-a  few  days  ago.  His  letter  has  caused  us  great  distress,  as  it  is  im- 
possible for  us  to  send  him  anything,  especially  eatables  for  which  he 
asks,  and  we  realize  what  privation  he  must  be  enduring,  to  have  to 
ask  us  for  things  he  has  not  had  for  nine  long  months  of  captivity. 
We  should  be  infinitely  grateful  if  you  would  include  our  father  in  the 
list  of  your  proteges. 

2742 — Having  learned  that  you  were  kind  enough  to  interest  yourself 
in  convalescent  soldiers  who  were  returning  from  the  front,  I  am  ask- 
ing if  you  can  help  me  with  a  little  package.  I  have  just  come  out  of 
the  hospital,  where  I  have  been  since  August  24th.  Am  now  returning 
to  my  base,  from  which  I  expect  shortly  to  leave.  I  am  from  St. 
Quentin  and  without  news  of  my  wife  since  December  5,  1914,  the  date 
on  which  I  was  made  prisoner.  I  escaped  on  May  26th,  and  after  pass- 
ing through  Belgium  I  reached  Holland,  with  the  help  of  Miss  Cavell. 
Having  succeeded  in  returning  to  France  on  June  22d,  I  hope  you  will 
interest  yourself  in  me,  and  assure  you  in  advance  of  my  profound 
gratitude. 

2236 — I  learned  from  a  comrade  who  was  visiting  in  Paris  that  you  send 
gifts  to  soldiers  at  the  front.  Therefore  I  ask  if  you  will  come  to  my 
help.  I  have  been  at  the  front  since  the  beginning  of  the  war,  but  have 
never  been  wounded;  am  of  the  regular  army  of  the  class  of  1913. 
Again,  I  never  had  any  news  of  my  family.  My  father  is  a  prisoner 
and  my  mother  stayed  in  the  invaded  districts.  You  can  see,  Madame, 
that  it  is  not  gay  for  me.  Nevertheless,  I  fight  energetically,  for  some 
day  we  must  drive  them  out  of  our  country.  We  must  do  it  at  no 
matter  what  cost.  B.  V. 


11 


2605 — Having  learned  your  address  from  Madame  deB.,  whose 
acquaintance  I  made  in  the  hospital,  I  learned  that  you  interested  your- 
self in  the  unfortunate  soldiers  from  the  invaded  districts;  and  as  1 
belong  to  that  class,  I  am  writing  you  to  obtain  a  little  package  of  warm 
clothing  for  this  winter,  which  promises  to  be  severe.  If  you  could 
send  me  some  flannels,  a  shirt,  a  muffler,  a  pair  of  socks,  you  would 
give  me  great  pleasure.  I  cannot  address  myself  to  my  family,  because 
I  have  had  no  news  of  them  since  August  23,  1914,  for  the  Germans 
arrived  at  our  place  on  the  night  of  August  24th.  I  am  married,  the 
father  of  one  child,  a  little  boy  three  years  old.  I  left  my  home  August 
2d,  and  shared  in  the  retreat  from  Belgium  and  at  the  battle  of  the 
Marne,  was  wounded  at  Reils;  cared  for  ten  days  at  the  hospital  Notre 
Dame  a  Epernay;  the  rest  of  the  time  until  February  5,  1915,  at  the 
Sisters  of  the  Visitation;  at  the  Lyc§e  Michelet  a  Vanves  until  March 
5th,  when  I  obtained  a  two-months  permission  for  convalescence,  which 
I  passed  at  Madame  P's.  My  permission  ending  May  4th,  I  returned  to 
the  base  at  Mantes  and  on  June  23d  I  returned  to  the  front,  going  into 
the  trenches,  where  I  still  am.  I  cannot  as  yet  see  the  beautiful  day 
when  I  will  be  able  to  have  news  of  my  own,  who  must  also  be  anxious 
on  my  account.    My  home  is  at  Denin.  A.  S. 

2608 — Having  heard  that  you  gave  clothing  to  soldiers  from  invaded 
districts,  I  am  from  Auancy  (Meuse)  and  at  the  time  of  the  mobiliza- 
tion, I  left  a  wife  and  children,  and  since  that  time  I  have  not  had  any 
news.  I  am  without  resources  and  without  help.  Therefore  I  come  to 
beg  from  your  kindness  that  you  may  send  me  some  warm  clothing  for 
the  winter  season.  A.  H. 

2627 — Having  learned  that  you  send  to  soldiers  worthy  of  interest 
warm  clothing  in  view  of  the  winter  campaign  which  is  commencing,  I 
have  the  honor  to  solicit  from  your  kindness  a  small  help.  A  native  of 
Arras,  the  home  of  my  parents  was  burned  on  October  6,  1915.  They 
had  to  fly  from  their  home  without  money  and  without  any  resources; 
moreover,  my  father  is  ill;  he  cannot  come  to  my  help;  also  my  brother 
is  at  the  front.  I  am  entirely  without  warm  clothing.  Anything 
that  you  send  me  will  be  received  with  joy.  B.  H. 

2766 — I  am  taking  the  liberty  of  writing  you  this.  It  is  now  sixteen 
months  that  I  have  been  at  the  front.  I  am  from  Boulzicourt  (Ardennes). 
As  it  is  very  cold  now  and  we  have  not  much  to  put  on,  I  am  appealing 
to  your  generosity  to  send  me  a  little  package.  I  will  be  very  grateful, 
for,  watching  these  Germans,  one  must  have  endurance  and  not  be  cold, 
and  it  is  hard  passing  the  nights  in  the  trenches.  I  am  married  and 
the  father  of  two  children,  the  oldest  eight  years,  all  of  whom  are  in  the 
invaded  districts. 

2223 — Have  just  returned  to  my  base  after  being  healed  of  my  wounds 
and  I  expect  soon  to  leave  for  the  front.  A  comrade  gave  me  your  ad- 
dress. I  am  coming  to  you  to  ask  if  you  will  take  an  interest  in  my  mis- 
fortune. I  am  from  the  invaded  districts,  from  Lille,  without  news  of 
my  family  for  a  year.  I  am  still  without  resources.  Nevertheless,  I  am 
resigned.  I  have  not  even  socks  to  put  on  my  feet;  also  I  hope  you 
will  come  to  my  help.  P.  C. 


12 


2850 — I  have  learned  from  one  of  my  comrades  that  you  send  gifts  to 
soldiers  from  the  invaded  districts  who  are  without  news  of  their 
family.  I  would  like  to  find  a  godmother  who  would  from  time  to  time 
send  me  some  comforts,  which  would  give  me  great  pleasure,  for 
1  lost  my  wife  before  the  war  and  have  been  left  with  four  children.  I 
am  from  Raimbeau  Court.  F.  M. 


2776 — Please  excuse  the  liberty  I  am  taking  in  writing  you,  having 
had  your  address  from  a  comrade.  I  would  be  most  grateful  to  you 
if  you  could  give  some  occupation  to  my  wife,  who  knows  how  to  sew.  I 
have  been  at  the  front  since  the  start  of  the  war  and  we  have  two 
little  children.  They  have  nothing  to  put  on  and  my  poor  wife  is  with- 
out work.  My  worst  suffering  is  to  think  that  they  will  be  cold  and 
perhaps  hungry.  Madame,  you  cannot  believe  how  happy  I  would  be  if 
you  would  interest  yourself  in  them.  L. 


2734 — I  am  sending  you  these  few  words  to  tell  you  that  I  have  just 
been  wounded  for  the  second  time  on  October  26th  by  a  piece  of  shell 
on  the  hips.  I  was  wounded  at  Champagne.  It  is  beginning  to  be  very 
cold  and  I  receive  nothing  from  anybody,  for  I  am  from  Sens  in  the 
invaded  districts.  You  would  be  very  kind  in  sending  me  a  sweater.  I 
had  the  bad  luck  to  be  wounded  since  I  arrived  at  the  front.  On  Octo- 
ber 12th  we  left  St.  Denis;  on  the  21st  we  arrived  in  Champagne  and  on 
the  26th  I  was  wounded.  The  first  time  I  was  wounded  was  after  nine 
months,  but  the  second  time  I  was  wounded  in  five  days.  Please  re- 
ceive, Madame,  my  most  sincere  salutations  and  my  most  affectionate 
and  sincere  friendship.  F.  S. 


A  prisoner  of  war  for  the  last  fifteen  months,  of  the  second  regi- 
ment of  territorials,  coming  from  Lille,  and  the  father  of  six  children, 
it  is  impossible  for  me  to  receive  from  my  family  anything  to  help  me 
in  my  captivity.  I  take  the  liberty  to  appeal  to  your  generosity  and 
inscribe  me  on  the  list  of  those  obliged  to  you.  In  the  hopes  that  you 
will  favorably  consider  my  request,  please  receive,  Madame,  with  my 
best  wishes  for  1916,  the  assurance  of  my  gratitude  and  my  thanks. 

H.  F. 


An  inhabitant  of  Lille,  a  town  occupied  by  the  Germans,  a  prisoner 
of  war  since  September,  1914,  I  do  not  hesitate  to  address  myself  to  you, 
believing  that  it  will  give  you  pleasure  to  help  a  needy  prisoner.  I  dare 
to  hope  that  you  will  meet  favorably  my  request  and  while  waiting  to 
hear  from  you  I  send  you,  Madame,  with  my  thanks,  the  expression  of 
my  deep  respect.  A.  H. 


Two  words  to  ask  you  to  have  the  kindness  to  send  me  a  little  help, 
for  it  is  now  seventeen  months  that  I  am  without  news  of  my  family. 
I  am  from  Tourcing,  and  if  you  could  send  me  a  little  help  you  would 
render  me  happy.  I  need  a  shirt  and  a  pair  of  socks  and  I  thank  you  in 
advance.  Dear  Madame,  before  ending  my  letter  I  wish  you  a  good  and 
happy  new  year  and  good  health.  Receive  the  best  salutations  of  a 
little  Chasseur  Alpin.  E.  C. 


13 


2323 — From  the  bottom  of  my  heart  I  send  you  my  thanks  for  the  pair 
of  socks  that  you  sent  by  A.  B.  In  these  terrible  times,  where  we  are 
deprived  of  all  family  relations  by  reason  of  our  homes  being  in  the 
invaded  districts,  the  help  we  receive  takes  huge  proportions  and  is 
most  comforting  to  our  heart.  I  wish  to  say  that  one  will  never  for- 
get it  and  that  it  will  be  our  duty  to  repeat  this  when  we  return  to 
our  families.  Madame,  I  permit  myself  to  ask  you  if  you  have  for  the 
winter  campaign  a  woolen  shirt  and  drawers.  I  am  afraid  my  request 
is  somewhat  large.  Nevertheless,  if  you  cannot  give  me  satisfaction, 
I  will  know  that  it  is  not  your  kind  heart  that  is  lacking.  B.  H. 

2268 — Your  little  soldier  sends  his  best  wishes  for  your  health.  As 
for  me  I  am  always  as  resolute  as  ever.  For  eleven  months  I  have 
been  awaiting  news  of  my  wife  and  little  boy,  who  must  now  be 
fifteen  years  old  and  perhaps  never  expects  to  see  his  father  again. 
So  I  would  be  Very  grateful  if  you  could  let  my  wife  and  son  have 
news  to  say  that  I  am  in  good  health  and  always  resolved  to  do  my 
duty,  notwithstanding  I  am  over  forty.  My  wife  must  have  left  her 
district  with  her  child  about  August  2  6,  1914.  Where  are  they  now? 
Have  they  come  back?  If  I  only  knew  how  they  were  I  would  be  at 
peace.    I  rely  on  your  kindness  to  give  me  news.  C.  D. 

2250 — Through  my  comrade,  A.  GL,  I  learned  that  you  are  a  second 
mother  to  our  dear  soldiers  from  the  invaded  districts.  Like  my 
comrade,  I  am  from  Sedan,  deprived  of  all  correspondence  with  my 
beloved  parents.  I  left  Sedan,  July  3,  1914,  and  since  that  time  I 
have  never  seen  a  member  of  my  family.  I  have  defended  our  dear 
country  with  courage.  I  was  wounded  at  the  battle  of  the  Marne, 
where  I  was  abandoned  for  four  days  between  the  two  lines;  I  had 
received  several  pieces  of  shell  in  my  two  hips.  For  the  moment 
everything  is  going  all  right,  and  in  a  little  while  I  shall  have  the 
happiness  of  returning  once  more  to  defend  our  native  soil  so  loved 
by  Frenchmen.  For  the  moment  I  am  in  a  very  painful  situation, 
my  resources  being  exhausted.  I  am  without  underclothing  or 
money — without  anything.  Also  I  was  very  glad  to  find  my  com- 
rade and  get  a  pair  of  socks,  for  I  had  none.  E.  L. 

I  would  be  most  grateful  to  you  if  you  would  occupy  yourself  with 
me,  for  I  am  without  parents  or  family.  I  am  an  orphan  mobilized  since 
the  beginning  of  the  war  and  I  never  receive  anything  from  anybody, 
not  even  a  consoling  letter.  I  am  from  Paris.  I  have  always  worked 
and  led  a  straight  life.  Please,  Madame,  take  my  letter  into  considera- 
tion. I  count  on  your  good  heart,  and  receive,  Madame,  my  sincerest 
greetings.  A.  Z. 

You  will  excuse  the  liberty  I  am  taking  in  writing  you,  but  as  you 
told  me  to  do  so,,  I  am  taking  advantage  of  it.  I  would  be  very  happy 
if  you  would  send  me  a  shirt,  preferably  red  or  dark,  a  pair  of  drawers 
and  a  pair  of  socks.  Here  the  nights  are  very  cold,  we  are  in  the  water 
and  mud  to  our  knees  and  it  is  very  hard.  It  seems  long,  as  there  is  not 
much  to  do  this  winter.  If  I  ask  you  for  these  things  it  is  because  I 
need  them.  The  105  CM.  Boches  destroyed  all  my  things.  I  only  have 
left  the  shirt,  drawers  and  pair  of  socks  that  you  gave  me.  A.  M. 


14 


2272 — Just  received  your  address  from  a  comrade.  Before  the  war,  I 
was  employed  at  the  railway  station  of  Douai.  I  am  married  and  have 
two  children.  My  daughter  is  six  years  old  and  my  boy  four  years.  It 
is  now  a  year  since  I  am  without  news  of  my  wife  or  parents.  At  this 
moment  I  am  alone,  not  knowing  what  the  future  has  in  reserve  for  me. 
Nevertheless,  I  am  full  of  courage  and  I  have  a  sentiment  that  Provi- 
dence will  protect  me  as  it  always  has.  I  have  been  through  the  en- 
tire war  and  I  am  very  proud,  as  I  am  full  of  energy  and  I  wish  to  an- 
nounce to  you  that  I  have  been  proposed  for  the  war  medal  as  a  recom- 
pense for  my  work.  Please  answer  me,  Madame,  as  that  will  cheer  me 
up  very  much.  E.  B. 

1551 — One  of  my  best  friends  has  given  me  your  address  and  tells  me 
that  you  do  all  you  can  to  help  those  unfortunate  soldiers  who  are  at 
present  without  support.  I  wish  therefore  to  show  you  most  respect- 
fully the  situation  in  which  I  am  placed,  feeling  assured  that  you  will 
give  it  your  kind  attention.  I  thank  you  in  advance  for  the  response 
you  make  to  my  present  appeal. 

Living  in  the  Ardennes,  I  was  called  up  on  the  second  day  of  the 
mobilization.  Father  of  five  children,  I  exercised  the  humble  profes- 
sion of  blacksmith.  Unfortunately  for  me,  and  for  reasons  I  cannot 
understand,  my  wife  and  four  of  my  children  remained  among  those 
who  did  not  leave,  and  since  August  25,  1914,  I  am  without  news  from 
them.  Not  only  am  I  suffering  anxiety  on  their  account,  but  I  have 
also  a  son  in  the  Zouaves,  who,  although  he  has  been  twice  wounded,  is 
leturning  to  the  front;  I  have  also  a  son-in-law,  father  of  a  child  and  at 
present  in  the  Dardanelles. 

All  these  moral  sufferings  are  not  sufficient,  for  in  addition  to  them, 
I  endure  other  privations,  as  up  to  the  present  I  have  had  no  help  from 
anyone.  Once  again,  thank  you  for  all,  if  you  come  to  my  help,  and 
please  receive,  with  my  humble  congratulations  on  the  patriotic  work 
you  are  doing,  my  most  respectful  salutations. 


15 


ill"' — I  have  just  heard  that  you  take  an  interest  in  the  wounded 

from  the  invaded  regions.    Now  I  left  all  my  family  in    and  I 

nave  had  no  news  from  them  since  October  6.  1914. 

I  should  be  eternally  grateful  to  you  if  you  could  get  me  some 

news  of  them,  especially  of  my  wife.    I  was  editor  of  the   .  I 

arrived  here  this  morning  only,  and  there  are  no  nurses  nor  stretcher 
bearers.  My  situation  is  all  the  more  painful  that  I  am  obliged  by 
the  treatment  to  walk  a  great  deal  without  crutches,  on  the  arm  of 
someone  who  keeps  me  from  falling.  1  had  both  knees  broken  eight 
months  ago.  I  am  convalescent  now  and  going  on  very  well  and 
shall  do  even  better  if  I  walk  a  great  deal.  Not  being  able  to  have 
any  money  from  my  family,  I  cannot  pay  anyone  for  accompany- 
ing me. 

Do  you  not  perhaps  know  someone  who  would,  accompany  me? 
1  am  not  very  heavy,  but  I  am  very  tall. 

With  anticipated  thanks,  receive,  Madame,  the  assurance  of  my 
entire  devotion. 

2307 — I  have  just  received  from  the  Abbe  a  pair  of  socks,  due  to 
your  generosity.    I  thank  you  all  the  more  as  it  is  the  first  time  that 

1  received  anything  since  the  war  began.  Permit  me  to  give  some 
details  about  myself.  I  am  from  Orchies,  a  little  town  between  Lille 
and  Valenciennes.     The  Germans  arrived  in  our  place  on  August 

2  4,  1914.  They  began  to  bombard  it  on  September  2  5th,  and  set 
fire  to  the  town.  Of  1,500  houses  only  ninety  remain  standing.  All 
my  family  stayed  there  and  I  have  no  news  since  my  departure,  so, 
Madame,  you  can  understand  that  I  am  touched  with  your  good 
heart.  The  Abbe  has  asked  me  to  tell  you  what  I  most  needed  in  cloth- 
ing. If  it  is  not  abusing  your  kindness,  I  will  tell  you:  a  pair  of 
drawers,  pair  of  socks,  and  if  you  have  an  old  sweater,  for  I  have 
none.  I  beg  that  you  will  not  deprive  yourself  for  me.  If  you  wish 
information  concerning  myself,  you  can  address  yourself  to  the 
following.  O.  D. 

1686 — I  have  heard  from  one  of  my  comrades  that  you  help  soldiers  at 
the  front.  I  am  from  the  North.  My  father  is  in  the  hands  of  the  Ger- 
mans; my  mother  succeeded  in  escaping  in  time  with  my  three  little 
brothers  and  sisters.  Since  then  I  have  had  no  news  of  my  father.  I 
ask  myself,  with  a  sob,  if  he  is  still  alive  or  dead.  My  poor  mother  has 
great  difficulty  in  keeping  and  bringing  up  her  children  on  her  very 
small  salary  and  living  is  so  dear,  too  dear,  alas!  And  as  I  do  not  wish 
her  to  rob  herself  for  me,  I  tell  her  I  need  nothing,  and  yet  I  am  in 
want  of  everything. 

1831— Having  been  at  the  front  for  thirteen  months  without  corre- 
spondence from  T  ,  and  as  I  have  just  heard  that  my  father-in-law  and 

my  brother-in-law  were  made  prisoners  when  the  Germans  entered  T  , 

J  ask  you  if  you  could  not  help  them  a  little,  or  if  you  know  anyone 
who  would  be  so  kind  as  to  put  me  into  correspondence  with  them  and 
send  them  what  they  need?  In  the  letter  they  sent  me,  they  tell  me 
that  they  are  wanting  for  everything  and  they  ask  me  to  send  them  a 
parcel  with  food  and  tobacco,  biscuits,  chocolate;  they  say  also  that 
that  they  have  no  more  shoes  nor  clothes.  See  how  unhappy  they  are, 
and  how  impossible  it  is  for  me,  without  money  and  without  news  from 
home,  to  send  them  what  they  need. 

I  hope  you  will  not  refuse  my  request,  for  these  poor  prisoners  are 
very  unhappy. 


16 


1428 — I  have  heard  from  my  comrades  that  you  could  send  some 
help  to  the  soldiers  from  the  invaded  regions,  so,  being  of  the  num- 
ber, I  do  not  hesitate  to  have  recourse  to  your  kindness.  Since  Au- 
gust 2,  1914,  I  am  without  news  of  my  family,  of  my  wife  and  chil- 
dren whom  I  left  at  M.  in  the  North.  As  reference  I  may  tell  you 
that  I  have  worked  for  twenty-two  years  for  Monsieur  H.  of  M.,  of 
whom  I  am  also  without  news;  that  is  why  I  have  no  means  like 
my  comrades. 

I  will  tell  you  that  I  have  been  at  the  front  since  the  beginning 
and  I  passed  three  months  in  Belgium. 

1563 — In  great  trouble,  I  wish  to  tell  you  of  the  situation  in  which 
1  am  placed.  I  must  tell  you  that  I  have  been  at  the  front  since  the 
first  day  of  the  mobilization  and  have  been  all  the  time  without 
any  news  of  my  family,  left  in  the  North.  It  is  needless  to  tell  you 
how  sad  it  is  for  a  young  man  of  twenty-two,  accustomed  to  earning 
his  living  without  having  to  ask  help  of  anyone,  to  be  now  forced  to 
beg.  But  I  think  you  will  understand  how  I  am  placed  and  will  do 
all  in  your  power  to  help  me  a  little.  I  close  my  letter  in  the  firm 
conviction  that  you  will  help  me,  assuring  you  of  my  devotion  and 
of  my  confidence  in  our  final  victory. 

1556 — You  will  excuse  my  sending  this  letter  asking  for  a  little  help, 
for,  dear  sir,  believe  me,  I  belong  to  the  invaded  country  and  have 
had  no  news  for  a  year  from  my  parents,  who  remained  behind  in 
their  home  in  the  North.  And  to  think  I  was  married  six  months 
only  before  the  war  broke  out.  I  do  not  know  if  I  have  a  child  or 
not,  for,  unfortunately  for  me,  I  left  home  on  August  3d,  and  im- 
mediately after  my  arrival  at  my  post  I  was  sent  to  the  front,  and 

1  have  not  received  any  news  from  home.  I  was  wounded  in  Ar- 
gonne  on  October  16th.  I  was  shot  through  the  body.  I  was  sent 
back  to  my  depot,  and  as  they  were  asking  for  volunteers  for  the 
Zouaves,  I  offered  myself,  and  as  soon  as  I  was  well  again  I  re- 
turned to  the  front.  I  am  still  without  news  or  consolation  or 
bodily  comforts. 

2310 — The  Abbe,  our  corporal,  has  just  given  me  a  fine  pair  of  socks 
from  a  package  that  came  from  you.  Let  me  thank  you  most  sin- 
cerely for  having  thought  of  us.  Being  without  news  of  my  family 
since  August,  1914,  I  inhabited  Lefarest  Douai.  Not  only  do  we  suffer 
from  anxiety  on  this  account,  but  we  are  deprived  of  all  necessaries, 
owing  to  the  impossibility  of  receiving  help.  If  you  could  procure 
for  me,  if  not  a  woolen  waistcoat,  an  undershirt  with  sleeves  if  pos- 
sible, it  would  give  me  great  pleasure.  I  wish  I  could  get  along  with- 
out them,  but  unfortunately  we  must  count  on  going  through  the  winter 
before  a  decision  takes  place  which  will  put  an  end  to  the  horrible 
carnage  which  is  covering  Europe.  R.  H. 

2  313 — Being  in  Alsace  for  the  last  twelve  months,  and  as  winter  is 
coming,  I  am  asking  if  you  could  send  me  some  warm  underclothes. 
My  wife  is  at  Neuilly  in  a  house  of  charity,  where  they  take  care  of 
the  refugees  from  the  north.  She  has  two  children,  and  as  she  only 
has  her  military  allowance  she  cannot  do  anything  for  me.  That  is 
why  I  appeal  to  your  generosity  and  if  possible  you  could  send  me 
a  waterproof  as  on  my  carriage  in  the  rain  it  is  not  very  comfortable. 
I  would  also  like  a  blanket.  C.  B. 


18 


2237 — I  have  just  learned  your 
address  from  a  friend,  who  tells 
me  that  you  very  kindly  look 
after  soldiers  at  the  front  from 
the  invaded  districts.  I  am  mar- 
ried, the  father  of  two  children, 
and  my  little  family  is  in  the 
power  of  the  Germans.  You  can 
imagine  how  hard  it  is  for  me 
not  to  receive  a  letter  from  any- 
body, but  I  am  not  discouraged 
and  I  have  always  done  my  duty 
as  a  Frenchman  and  will  do  it 
until  the  end.  L.  D. 

2608 — Having  heard  that  you 
gave  clothing  to  soldiers  from 
invaded  districts,  I  am  from 
Auancy  (Meuse)  and  at  the  time 
of  the  mobilization  I  left  a  wife 
and  children,  and  since  that 
time  I  have  not  had  any  news. 
I  am  without  resources  and  with- 
out help.  Therefore  I  come  to 
beg  from  your  kindness  that  you 
may  send  me  some  warm  cloth- 
ing for  the  winter  season.  A.  H. 

2833 — Being  from  the  invaded  zone,  I  am  completely  deprived  of  all 
help  since  August,  1914.  If  you  could  come  to  my  help  a  little,  I  could 
not  thank  you  enough,  for  I  have  neither  undershirt  nor  socks.  Please 
accept  my  thanks  in  advance  and  the  assurance  of  my  devotion.   E.  C. 

I  have  been  told  of  your  great  kindness.  I  come  to  recommend 
myself  to  you,  having  been  at  the  front  since  the  beginning  of  the  war. 
1  have  not  received  any  help  from  anybody,  my  country  being  invaded. 

L.  B. 

I  would  be  most  grateful  for  some  warm  clothing  for  the  winter. 
I  am  the  eldest  of  seven  children.  My  parents  have  not  the  means  to 
give  me  little  things  and  this  is  the  reason,  dear  Madame,  that  I  write 
to  ask  you  to  take  an  interest  in  my  situation.  I  assure  you  that  it  is 
not  warm  here.  I  am  of  the  class  of  1915.  I  was  wounded  on  July  27th 
by  a  piece  of  shell  near  the  spine.  I  assure  you  I  suffered  enough,  but 
now  I  am  fairly  well.  Let  us  hope  these  Germans  will  never  have  our 
old  Alsace-Lorraine,  and  we  are  fighting  for  our  beautiful  France  and 
our  mothers  who  are  so  devoted  to  us.  I  think  you  will  do  all  you  can 
for  us  little  soldiers.  At  the  present  moment  there  is  snow  and  mud  in 
our  trenches  but  we  are  not  badly  lodged.  I  terminate  in  saluting  you 
and  I  hope  you  will  occupy  yourself  to  meet  a  little  Chasseur.     H.  D. 

Being  from  the  invaded  districts  and  on  the  front  since  the  start  of 
the  war,  could  you  give  me  a  little  help?  My  home  is  in  Doring,  near 
Perione,  invaded  since  September,  1914,  so  that  I  have  been  without 
news  of  my  family.  I  would  be  very  happy  if  you  could  send  me  in- 
formation regarding  my  family.  L.  P. 


19 


I  have  been  informed  that  you  are  the  Providence  of  the  sol- 
diers at  the  front.    Permit  a  priest  who  is  a  nurse  to  inscribe  him- 
self on  your  list.    Thanks  to  your  generosity,  it  may  be  permitted 
of  me  to  do  a  little  more  good  amongst  our  "poilus"  and  amongst 
our  dear  wounded.    There  is  no  lack  of  patriotism  in  our  wandering 
life.    It  is  one's  lot  to  be  almost  anywhere;  sometimes  in  the  hos- 
pitals in  the  rear,  more  often  at  night  in  the  fields  within  the  sound 
of  cannon.    It  is  thus  that  we  had  the  honor  to  bring  back  our  glori- 
ous  wounded   from   N6tre-Dame-de-Lorette,   from   Champagne;  thus 
the  train  leaves  with  3  40  wounded  to  deposit  these  in  different  cor- 
ners of  France,  on  the  shores  of  the  Atlantic  or  near  the  blue  waters 
of  the  Mediterranean.    The  trip  is  a  long  one  at  twenty  miles  an 
nour.    The  nights  are  passed  awake,  the  days  in  taking  nourish- 
ment, and  when  there  is  a  rush,  as  at  present,  those  who  help  have 
but  a  few  hours  of  rest  during  the  period  of  disinfecting  before  re- 
turning to  the  front.    The  one  regret  that  one  feels  is  that  one  can  do 
so  little  in  the  wav  of  comforts  for  these  poor  suffering  bodies.  The 
purse  is  very  empty  and  our  heart  bleeds  very  often  at  being  re- 
duced to  give  only  comforting  words.    Also,  you  will  permit  me, 
Madame,  to  shelter  myself  behind  the  name  of  our  dear  Catholic 
poet,  Francois  Coppee,  in  order  to  express  my  request:    "Give  with- 
out knowing  who  asks;  give  without  asking  who  receives,  for  the 
most  noble  gesture  there  is,  is  to  present  the  hand  wide  open." 

I  hope  you  will  excuse  my  boldness,  but  the  renown  of  your  work 
has  not  a  little  encouraged  me  to  take  this  step.  Believe  me, 
Madame,  I  will  never  forget  your  name  as  long  as  I  am  alive  each 
time  that  I  may  be  able  to  say  Mass  from  our  wagon.  I  beg  you, 
Madame,  to  accept  my  deepest  and  most  respectful  thanks.    J.  P. 


1610 — I  have  just  heard  from  a  comrade  that  you  give  assistance  to 
soldiers  without  a  family,  so  I  beg  you  to  be  so  kind  as  to  help  me,  as 
I  am  without  parents  and  have  no  news  from  anyone  since  September, 
1914.  I  was  born  on  April  4,  1896,  in  the  North,  and  I  had  a  brother 
wrho  was  killed  at  Maubeuge  in  August,  1914.  I  joined  the  army 
as  a  volunteer  and  have  been  at  the  front  since  November  11th. 

Dear  Madame,  we  had  to  leave  our  home  one  night,  all  the  in- 
habitants of  the  place  from  eighteen  to  forty  years  of  age,  and  as  it  was 
night,  I  had  not  time  to  take  much  away  with  me. 

My  father  died  three  years  ago  and  my  mother  died  a  week  before 
the  mobilization. 

There  are  four  brothers  and  sisters  besides  me,  but  my  sister  looks 
after  them.  One  of  my  brothers  is  fifteen,  the  other  ten;  one  sister  is 
four,  and  my  youngest  brother  is  seven.  My  oldest  sister  looks  after 
them  and  when  I  went  away  she  was  very  sad,  because  her  husband 
was  already  a  prisoner  in  Germany,  and  so  she  had  no  one  to  help  her. 


You  will  excuse  the  liberty  I  am  taking  in  writing  you,  but  as  you 
told  me  to  do  so,  I  am  taking  advantage  of  it.  I  would  be  very  happy  if 
you  would  send  me  a  shirt,  preferably  red  or  dark,  a  pair  of  drawers 
and  a  pair  of  socks.  Here  the  nights  are  very  cold;  we  are  in  the  water 
and  mud  to  our  knees  and  it  is  very  hard.  It  seems  long  as  there  is 
not  much  to  do  this  winter.  If  I  ask  you  for  these  things  it  is  because 
I  need  them.  The  105  C.M.  Boches  destroyed  all  my  things.  I  only  have 
left  the  shirt,  drawers  and  pair  of  socks  that  you  gave  me.         A.  M. 


20 


2776 — Please  excuse  the  liberty  I 
am  taking  in  writing  you,  hav- 
ing had  your  address  from  a 
comrade.  I  would  be  most  grate- 
ful to  you  if  you  could  give  some 
occupation  to  my  wife  who 
knows  how  to  sew.  I  have  been 
at  the  front  since  the  start  of 
the  war  and  we  have  two  little 
children.  They  have  nothing  to 
put  on  and  my  poor  wife  is  with- 
out work.  My  worst  suffering 
is  to  think  that  they  will  be  cold 
and  perhaps  hungry.  Madame, 
you  cannot  believe  how  happy  I 
would  be  if  you  would  interest 
yourself  in  them.  L. 

2324 — Having  received  your  ad- 
dress from  the  Abbe,  I  take  the 
liberty  to  write,  to  ask  if  you  will 
have  the  kindness  to  send  me  a 
flannel  shirt  and  a  sweater.  Being  from  Orchies,  of  the  district  invaded 
by  the  Germans  since  August  24,  1914,  and  the  Germans  having  set  fire 
to  the  town  on  September  27,  1914,  I  am  since  without  any  news  of  my 
family.  May  Providence  protect  them  and  afford  me  the  happiness  of 
finding  them  in  good  health.  H.  M. 

2  346 — I  have  the  honor  to  inform  you  that  I  have  not  heard  from 
my  wife  and  children  since  the  first  days  of  mobilization,  my  district 
being  invaded  since  the  end  of  August,  1914.  I  am  from  Solesmes, 
near  Combua.  I  am  married  and  the  father  of  four  children  and 
without  any  resources.  Could  you  give  me  a  little  help?  I  will  be 
most  grateful.  A.  L. 

29  54 — F.  D.,  living  at  Mazier,  in  invaded  district,  married,  father 
of  three  children,  miner,  and  without  news  of  his  family  and  with- 
out resources,  is  actually  a  drummer  since  the  beginning  of  the 
campaign,  has  the  honor  to  solicit  your  kindness  for  a  little  help. 

F.  D. 

2810 — I  am  writing  you  to  say  that  I  am  well.  When  I  was  on  leave, 
1  went  to  see  you  in  Paris  and  you  took  my  address.  My  wife  and  three 
children  are  in  Belgium,  which  is  still  invaded.  When  I  went  to  see 
you,  a  lady  took  my  address  in  order  to  try  to  get  news,  for  since  four- 
teen months  I  have  had  no  news.  I  hope  you  will  do  all  you  possibly 
can.  You  told  me  that  if  I  needed  anything,  that  I  was  to  write  you. 
1  would  be  very  glad  to  have  a  sweater,  as  it  is  getting  very  cold.  I 
would  also  be  glad  to  have  a  pair  of  woolen  socks,  as  I  suffer  a  great  deal 
from  cold  in  my  feet. 

2302 — The  Abbe  gave  me  your  address.  I  am  writing  to  ask  if  you  will 
please  send  me  a  pair  of  drawers  and  a  sweater.  I  am  from  Orchies, 
a  district  invaded  by  the  Germans  since  August  24,  1914,  when  they 
set  fire  to  the  town  on  September  27,  1914,  and  since  that  time  I  am 
without  news  of  my  wife  and  two  children.  I  pray  God  that  He  will 
protect  my  family  and  that  I  may  find  them  in  good  health.     J.  B.  D. 


21 


2909 — A  friendly  soul  has  given  me  your  address  and  I  beg  to  recom- 
mend myself  to  you,  for  I  am  without  resources  and  have  in  the  world 
only  my  mother,  who  is  very  aged  and  who  manages  with  much  dif- 
ficulty to  make  her  daily  bread  and  pay  her  rent.  I  was  brought  up  at 
the  Orphanage  St.  Louis  until  the  age  of  thirteen.  Then  I  learned  cook- 
ing, after  which  my  brother  had  me  come  to  London,  where  I  found  a 
good  place  in  a  large  hotel.  I  lived  very  soberly  and  with  good  prin- 
ciples I  sent  a  little  money  to  my  mother  to  help  her  along.  I  stayed  six 
years  in  England  and  when  I  was  twenty-one,  I  became  a  soldier  in  the 
Paris  garrison.  I  had  just  about  done  my  two  years,  when  war  was 
declared  and  my  regiment  fought  for  the  first  time  in  Belgium  and 
afterward  in  many  battles,  until  that  of  the  Marne,  where  in  three  days 
we  advanced  eighty  kilometers.  Since  then  I  was  at  Berry-au-Bac  last 
winter  and  since  at  the  battles  of  Aix  Moulette  and  also  September  25th 
at  Souchez.  I  tell  you  of  my  campaign  in  my  sixteen  months  of  war, 
although  I  could  write  a  volume.  I  was  never  wounded,  but  I  suffered 
a  great  deal  last  winter,  as  I  never  had  anybody  to  come  to  my  help; 
but,  nevertheless,  I  overcame  all  my  fatigues  and  adversities  and  am 
in  excellent  health.  Since  the  last  few  days  I  am  with  the  campaign 
kitchen  which  gives  me  some  rest,  although  I  have  250  men  to  feed. 
The  rain  and  the  mud  attack  daily  my  clothes,  and  I  would  be  very 
happy  to  have  a  change  of  clothing.  Therefore,  I  recommend  myself  to 
your  generosity  for  two  overalls  and  a  pair  of  trousers,  medium  size, 
and  for  socks  and  tobacco,  after  which  I  will  need  nothing  and  shall  be 
content  to  go  to  the  end  of  the  war.  I  recommend  myself  therefore  to 
your  woman's  heart  and  I  will  write  you  often  to  thank  you.       A.  L. 

2917 — Being  about  to  leave  for  the  front  for  the  third  time,  a  comrade 
tells  me  that  you  help  soldiers  who  have  nobody  to  help  them,  and  that 
is  my  case.  I  have  a  mother,  five  brothers  and  two  sisters,  three  of 
whom  are  still  young.  One  of  my  brothers  was  killed  in  Argonne.  My 
mother  has  not  enough  for  her  own  needs  and  for  those  of  my  young 
brothers,  so  that  they  can  send  me  but  very  little.  Therefore,  Madame, 
J  recommend  myself  to  you,  that  you  may  have  the  kindness  to  interest 
yourself  in  me.  M.  D. 

2921 — Having  come  lately  on  leave  to  Paris,  I  went  to  see  a  friend  at 
the  Automobile  Club  of  France  and  from  there  I  was  sent  to  you  to 
get  some  clothing.  I  am  from  Lille  and  never  received  anything  from 
my  home,  as  my  country  is  invaded.  I  even  had  to  pass  my  leave  at 
St.  Sulpice,  as  I  had  nobody  to  receive  me.  It  was  too  late  to  go  and 
see  you  that  night.  I  returned  early  the  next  morning  to  your  Ouvroir, 
but  it  was  not  open  and  as  1  was  leaving  the  same  day  at  one  o'clock, 
I  did  not  see  any  one  at  your  place  and  for  that  reason  I  have  decided 
to  write  you,  for  they  told  me  at  the  Automobile  Club  to  write.  I  have 
so  far  not  needed  anything  from  anybody,  for  last  winter  I  was 
wounded  in  Belgium  at  the  attack  of  Dixmunde,  so  I  spent  all  the  cold 
weather  in  a  good  bed  and  during  the  summer,  things  were  not  so  bad; 
but  now  that  the  second  winter  is  coming  we  begin  to  feel  its  effects, 
and  when  one  has  no  mother  to  help  one,  one  must  resign  one's  self  to 
beg.  Excuse  the  expression.  We  have  so  little  of  the  habit  of  asking 
for  anything,  that  I  do  not  know  how  to  express  myself.  However,  I 
believe  I  have  expressed  my  condition  and  I  hope  you  will  have  the 
kindness  to  tell  me  whether  I  was  right  in  addressing  myself  to  you  or 
whether  I  should  have  addressed  myself  to  the  Automobile  Club 
of  France.  M.  D. 


22 


2966 — I  am  from  Sallaumines,  married  and  the  father  of  four  children, 
with  my  family  actually  in  the  invaded  districts  and  therefore  deprived 
of  all  resources  since  August  14th.  I  have  the  honor  to  recommend  my- 
self to  your  kindness  in  case  you  could  come  to  my  help.  P.  H. 

2968 — Excuse  the  liberty  I  am  taking  in  writing  you.  I  have  not  for- 
gotten that  in  last  March  you  had  the  kindness  to  give  me  what  I  then 
needed.  For  that  I  am  very  grateful.  Until  now  I  have  not  had  need 
of  your  help.  Being  from  Roubaix,  I  have  unfortunately  nobody  who  is 
interested  in  me  and  1  need  to  pass  the  winter  a  sweater  and  flannel 
stomach  bands,  so  I  thought  of  you,  Madame;  I  thought  you  would  not 
refuse  me  this  help.  I  will  be  most  grateful.  I  will  make  it  a  duty,  if 
Providence  protects  me,  to  come  and  thank  you  in  person.  A.  R. 

2970 — Having  been  at  the  front  since  August  3,  1914,  and  without  news 
of  my  family,  I  left  at  home  my  wife  and  three  children  who  stayed  in 
the  invaded  districts.  I  am  therefore  without  any  resources.  I  would 
be  very  much  obliged  if  you  could  send  me  some  help.  I  would  be 
very  grateful.    I  am  from  Longueville.  V.  B. 

2959 — I  find  myself  obliged  to  write  you,  having  nobody  to  come  to  my 
help,  and  I  am  from  the  invaded  districts.  I  am  from  Monmedy.  At 
times  when  I  see  my  comrades  receive  packages  I  have  a  heavy  heart. 
I  hope,  Madame,  that  you  will  not  forget  and  I  thank  you  in  advance. 

E.  F. 

Leading  a  very  lonely  existence,  I  desire  to  correspond  with 
someone  who  understands  my  situation.  Will  you  permit  me  to  solicit 
your  kindness  to  be  an  interpreter  amongst  your  friends  and  acquaint- 
ances in  the  hopes  that  you  will  give  attention  to  my  request?  Receive, 
Madame,  with  my  best  greetings  and  good  wishes  for  a  happy  new  year, 
the  assurance  of  my  deep  respect.  F.  C. 


LETTERS  ASKING  FOR  GODMOTHERS 


1719 — I  thank  your  Society  for  their  kind  reception  and  for  the  parcel 
given  to  me.  Now  I  should  be  very  happy  if  you  could  get  me  some 
news  of  my  family,  of  whom  I  have  heard  nothing  for  more  than  a  year. 
I  should  be  very  grateful  if  you  could  find  some  kind  person  to  take  an 
interest  in  me,  for  I  receive  no  letters  and  no  help  from  anyone,  as  I 
belong  to  the  invaded  regions. 

1779 — Excuse  the  great  liberty  I  take  in  writing  to  you.  Being  from 
the  invaded  regions,  I  have  recourse  to  your  charitable  work.  As  win- 
ter is  approaching,  I  shall  need  underclothing.  It  would  be  a  charity 
on  your  part  if  you  could  send  me  some.  Having  no  godmother, 
I  take  the  liberty  of  asking  you  to  find  one  for  me,  if  that  is  not  abusing 
your  kindness. 

For  eleven  months,  my  parents  have  been  under  the  domination 
of  the  Boches  and  it  is  impossible  to  send  them  anything.  They  live  at 
L  .,  in  the  arrondissement  of  Lille. 

1792 — I  take  the  liberty  of  writing  to  you  to  ask  you  to  come  to  my 
help,  by  finding  a  charitable  lady  who  would  take  an  interest  in  me,  for, 
being  an  inhabitant  of  Douai  (Nord),  my  country  is  invaded  by  the  Ger- 
mans, and  I  have  no  news  of  my  wife  and  my  children  since  last  year. 
I  assure  you  that  is  very  sad  for  the  father  of  a  family  not  to  have  any 
news  of  the  family,  who  must  suffer  in  silence.  I  have  made  myself 
ill  with  thinking  of  them.  I  have  just  had  a  brother  killed,  and  another 
was  taken  prisoner  at  the  battle  of  the  Marne.  You  see,  Madame,  my 
situation.  Also,  I  hope,  Madame,  you  will  do  your  best  possible  to  find  me 
a  marraine  who  will  take  interest  in  me,  for  I  see  the  winter  approaches, 
and  last  year  I  had  my  feet  frozen.  At  the  present  moment  I  have  no 
socks  to  put  on  my  feet,  so  I  should  be  happy  if  you  could  send  me  a 
pair  of  socks. 

I  passed  six  days  on  leave  in  our  beautiful  country.  I  had  the 
chance  to  come  and  see  you  and  ask  you  for  a  Godmother.  I  have  come 
back  under  good  conditions,  and  ever  since  my  return  to  my  comrades 
I  have  tried  in  every  way  to  encourage  them.  On  my  side  my  morale  is 
excellent  and  my  courage  full  of  devotion.  I  send  the  following  par- 
ticulars to  see  if  you  can  learn  of  what  has  become  of  my  family.  I  am 
married  and  the  father  of  a  child.  (Here  follows  name  and  address.)  I 
count  on  your  endeavors  and  your  good  help  to  get  me  some  small,  little 
information  and  to  soften  my  lot.  Receive,  Madame,  my  most  dis- 
tinguished salutations  and  my  best  wishes  for  a  good  and  happy  new 
year.  M.  L. 

I  take  the  liberty  of  writing  you,  for  while  I  was  a  convalescent  in 
Paris  you  told  me  that  as  soon  as  I  returned  to  my  regiment  I  was  to 
write  you  and  that  you  would  give  me  a  Godmother  with  whom  I  could 
correspond  and  who  would  help  to  encourage  me  in  the  trenches  where 
I  am  alone,  having  no  family  with  whom  I  can  correspond.  It  is  such  a 
bore  to  be  alone,  especially  at  the  front.  I  hope  to  have  you  grant  this, 
Madame,  if  it  is  possible.  I  profit  by  the  occasion  to  send  you  my  wishes 
for  a  happy  new  year  and  good  health  and  my  best  thanks.         J.  M. 

P-S. — I  forgot  to  tell  you  that  I  was  twice  wounded  in  the  Dar- 
danelles and  that  I  expect  to  leave  for  Servia  in  March. 


25 


2713 — Deprived  of  all  correspondence,  I  am  desirous  of  being  put  in  com- 
munication with  some  devoted  person  who  would  be  willing  to  accept 
me  as  a  correspondent.  Not  knowing  the  price  of  an  insertion  in  the 
paper,  please  let  me  know  what  it  is  and  I  shall  make  it  a  duty  to  reim- 
burse you.   Please  have  pity  on  an  abandoned  child.  R.  R. 

2772 — Having  been  at  the  front  since  the  beginning  of  the  war  and  hav- 
ing wandered  along  the  entire  front,  I  have  not  had.  the  time  to  be 
bored,  but  now  comes  winter  and  long  nights,  and  I  would  like  to  have 
some  one  to  whom  I  could  write;  but  here  is  the  hitch,  to  whom?  I 
thought  that,  notwithstanding  the  large  number  of  soldiers  you  look 
after,  there  might  be  left  a  little  Godmother  who  would  have  the  time 
to  scribble  me  a  line  from  time  to  time.  L.  L. 

2818 — Having  learned  that  you  procured  Godmothers  for  several  of 
my  comrades,  I  am  coming  to  solicit  the  same  favor  from  you.  I  am  an 
accountant  from  Lille,  a  widower  with  two  children,  of  the  class  of 
1892.  I  was  mobilized  September  2,  1914,  and  have  no  parents  who  can 
come  to  my  help.  J.  B. 

2842 — Being  without  resources,  excuse  me  for  writing  you  these  words 
to  ask  you  for  some  things,  as  I  am  from  the  invaded  districts.  I  have 
come  to  you  to  ask  you  to  have  the  kindness  to  find  me  a  Godmother 
who  will  send  me  some  comforts.  I  never  receive  anything  and  as  a 
comrade  has  advised  me,  I  am  writing  you  these  words.  For  the 
moment  I  am  being  treated  at  the  hospital  for  typhoid  fever.  I  was 
born  at  Tourcoing,  where  I  still  have  my  mother.  I  have  no  father  and 
am  not  married.   I  have  three  brothers  in  the  army.  L.  M. 

2630 — Having  learned  your  address,  I  hurry  to  write  asking  you, 
Madame,  for  a  little  help.  I  am  a  poor  Belgian  boy  and  I  am  at  the 
front  without  news  of  my  parents  who  have  stayed  with  Germans — 
not  the  smallest  letter  in  all  these  days.  I  see  letters  coming  to  my 
comrades,  but  I  never  get  anything.  Knowing  your  kindness  for  my 
comrades,  I  am  coming  to  you  to  ask  if  you  cannot  give  me  a  God- 
mother. I  am  getting  jealous  of  my  comrades  who  have  kind  souls 
with  whom  they  can  correspond  and  I  never  get  anything.  C.  D. 

2635 — I  am  writing  you  a  few  lines  as  I  have  learned  from  one  of  my 
friends  that  you  have  the  kindness  to  find  Godmothers.  At  this  moment, 
I  am  in  great  need  of  one,  as  I  have  not  a  single  piece  of  underclothing 
for  the  winter  and  for  the  last  thirteen  months  I  am  without  any  news 
cf  my  wife  and  family,  and  have  not  received  anything  from  anybody. 

A.  D. 

2700 — I  am  writing  to  ask  if  you  can  come  to  my  help  for  the  bad 
weather.  As  I  form  part  of  the  class  of  1912,  I  have  been  in  the  war 
since  the  first  days  of  mobilization.  I  have  been  twice  wounded  and 
am  now  for  the  third  time  at  the  front,  always  with  the  same  courage 
as  at  the  start  and  with  the  will  to  conquer  the  invaders  and  throw  them 
out  forever.  I  am  from  the  invaded  districts  and  have  not  received  any 
news  of  my  dear  parents  since  the  beginning  of  the  war.  I  have  not 
the  pleasure  to  be  able  to  write  them  a  word.  I  have  to  suffer  in  silence 
and  see  my  comrades  more  happy  than  me  who  have  news  and  letters. 
I  ask  you,  dear  Madame,  if  you  could  possibly  find  me  a  Godmother 
who  would  send  me  some  warm  clothing.  A.  V. 


26 


2217 — I  have  just  learned  your  address  from  soldiers  who  say  that  you 
are  very  kind  to  the  soldiers  of  the  invaded  districts  without  help. 
This  is  my  history.  Since  the  beginning  of  the  campaign  I  have  been 
at  the  front  and  I  never  have  received  anything  from  anybody,  for  I 
am  an  orphan.  Before  the  war  I  lived  at  Fumay  (Ardennes).  I  lived 
with  my  uncle  who  was  eighty-eight  years  old  and  my  aunt  who  was 
seventy-seven.  Unfortunately,  they  stayed  behind  and  since  the  war 
I  have  had  no.  news.  I  would  be  happy  if  you  could  find  a  Godmother 
for  me.  That  would  render  me  a  great  service,  for  it  is  very  hard  never 
to  receive  any  news  from  anybody.  L.  G. 

2229 — As  I  came  to  see  you  while  on  leave  in  Paris,  for  that  reason 
permit  me  to  ask  you  whether  you  could  find  me  a  Godmother,  as  I 
never  get  any  news  from  my  family.  I  left  my  wife  and  two  children 
at  St.  Armand.  I  would  like  very  much  to  have  a  Godmother  with 
whom  I  could  correspond  and  ask  for  some  comforts,  for  I  am  without 
resources  and  always  without  letters. 

2859 — I  have  just  received  your  letter  of  the  22d  in  which  you  ask  me 
if  I  am  satisfied  with  my  Godmother.  I  wish  to  tell  you  that  I  have  not 
been  so  happy,  for  since  the  beginning  of  the  war  I  have  been  alone 
and  nobody  took  any  interest  in  me.  Now  the  time  seems  less  long 
and  less  hard.  My  Godmother  sends  me  from  time  to  time  a  little 
package.  I  have  just  received  one  as  I  am  writing  you.  I  write  quite 
frequently,  sometimes  twice  a  week.  She  is  a  very  kind,  charitable  per- 
son who  is  proving  of  great  help  to  me  and  I  wish  to  thank  you  for  hav- 
ing found  me  a  Godmother.  A.  W. 

2961 — The  soldier  H.  P.  of  the  first  foreign  regiment,  typesetter,  would 
like  to  have  a  Godmother.  (Algeria.) 

2913 — I  am  writing  you  a  few  lines  to  ask  if  you  could  not  find  me  a 
Godmother.  I  am  from  the  invaded  districts,  from  Pas-de-Calais  and 
since  August  18,  1914,  I  have  had  no  news  from  my  parents  and  I  re- 
gret to  say  that  we  still  have  another  winter  campaign,  and  that  my 
poor  district  is  not  yet  free  of  the  enemy.  I  would  be  very  happy  if  you 
could  render  me  a  small  service.  A.  W. 

The  soldier  T.  C,  colored,  from  the  Martinique,  at  present  a  con- 
valescent at  56  Rue  St.  Lazare,  would  like  to  have  a  Godmother. 

2278 — Excuse  me  for  writing  you  these  lines,  for  I  hope  that  you  will 
have  the  kindness  to  take  an  interest  in  me.  I  have  been  at  the  front 
since  the  mobilization  and  since  August  15,  1914,  I  have  no  news  of 
my  family  left  at  Wignelheis,  where  I  believe  my  family  still  are.  I 
have  never  been  ill  or  wounded  in  the  fourteen  months  of  campaign. 
I  am  without  resources  or  money  and  it  is  only  one  of  my  brothers,  a 
soldier  like  me,  who  has  been  willing  to  divide  with  me  the  little,  he 
had.  Until  to-day  I  managed  to  get  along,  but  at  present  all  economies 
are  exhausted  and  I  do  not  know  to  whom  to  address  myself  for  help. 
Therefore  I  am  addressing  myself  to  your  generosity  to  ask  if  you  will 
kindly  send  me  some  help  and  give  me  a  Godmother  who  will  come  to 
my  help.  This  Godmother  would  replace  parents  who  are  absent  and 
cannot  come  to  my  help  for  the  moment.  A.  G. 


27 


LETTERS  OF  THANKS 


Thanks  for  having  so  well  dressed  papa.   His  little  daughter,  M.  L. 

1433 — Please  excuse  this  humble  sheet,  it  comes  from  the  depth  of  the 
trenches.  I  do  not  know  how  to  thank  you  enough  for  your  precious 
parcel.  My  gratitude  towards  you  is  infinite.  You  have  a  beautiful 
soul,  Madame,  to  think  with  so  much  solicitude  of  the  soldiers  of  Right 
and  Justice.  But  you  are  American;  that  is  saying  everything.  And 
from  the  little  clearing  where  my  post  is  situated,  shaken  at  every 
instant  by  the  earthquakes  of  the  mines  which  explode,  or  the 
torpedoes  which  burst  with  an  infernal  crash,  I  bless  your  name  and 
I  beg  you  to  believe  in  my  most  respectful  sentiments  and  gratitude. 

1875 — Thank  you  from  the  bottom  of  my  heart  for  your  gift.  America 
does  not  forget  the  soldiers  of  Right  and  Liberty,  and  that  touches  me 
profoundly. 

I  thank  you  infinitely  for  the  good  things  and  the  useful  you  had 
the  kindness  to  send  us. 

I  came  from  America  to  go  to  the  war,  I  hope  afterwards  to  re- 
turn there. 

I  thank  the  American  Holophane  Society  for  the  aid  they  give  to 
the  soldiers  from  the  invaded  country. 

Receive  my  sincere  thanks.  We  will  go  to  the  end  to  defend  our 
dear  country. 

I  thank  you  with  all  my  heart,  and  all  the  American  ladies  who 
have  been  so  good  to  me  and  my  comrades,  for  the  packet  of  under- 
clothing which  has  been  given  me. 

My  thanks  and  my  deepest  gratitude  for  all  the  gifts  sent  to  me 
from  you  and  the  ladies  of  the  Ouvroir.  We  see  how  everyone  thinks  of 
the  brave  soldiers  who  shed  their  blood  in  the  defence  of  their  dear 
country. 

Long  live  France!  Long  live  our  Allies  and  all  our  friends  who  do 
not  forget  us  in  our  distress!    Long  live  our  friends,  the  Americans! 

1962 — I  am  back  again  in  the  trenches,  and  I  take  the  opportunity  of  a 
little  moment  of  quiet  to  thank  you  for  the  little  parcel  and  for  the  kind 
welcome  you  gave  us.  I  hope  that  the  gentleman  we  saw  at  your 
Ouvroir  will  go  and  tell  his  friends  that  in  spite  of  our  twelve  months 
of  campaign  we  are  in  good  spirits  and  decided  to  go  on  to  the  end  to 
deliver  our  dear  country  and  our  beloved  families,  who  are  so  sorely 
tried.  Awaiting  this  day  of  victory  and  deliverance,  I  am  your  devoted 
and  grateful  soldier. 

Be  kind  enough  to  excuse  my  delay,  but  as  I  hoped  to  get  a  leave 
for  New  Year's,  and  as  I  see  the  permission  does  not  come  very  fast, 
I  take  the  liberty  to  send  you  these  words  to  offer  you  my  best  wishes 
for  a  Happy  New  Year,  health  and  prosperity,  and  hoping  that  1916  will 
bring  victory  and  peace  and  also  quiet  forever.  I  also  wish  to  thank 
you  for  your  kindness  in  continuing  to  give  work  to  my  wife  and  help- 
ing her  to  be  patient  in  awaiting  my  final  return  home.  Will  you  have 
the  kindness,  Madame,  to  present  to  Miss  J.  all  my  best  wishes  for  the 
new  year?  F.  J. 


28 


I  am  writing  you  a  few  words  to  thank  you  for  sending  me  the 
package.  I  cannot  describe  to  you  the  joy  that  I  felt  in  opening  it.  I 
am  sending  you  a  list  of  its  contents,  as  you  asked  me  to  do:  one  shirt, 
one  drawers,  one  towel,  one  pair  of  socks,  two  handkerchiefs,  one  piece 
of  soap,  one  bottle  of  milk,  some  sugar,  one  flint  lighter,  one  penholder, 
some  cigarette  paper,  a  pipe,  a  package  of  tobacco,  one  box  of  preserved 
peas,  a  tube  of  tincture  of  iodine,  a  tube  for  purifying  water  against 
typhoid  fever. 

Nothing  of  importance  to  tell  you,  except  that  I  continue  in  good 
health,  which  I  hope  is  the  case  with  you. 

I  thank  you  very  much  for  the  package  that  you  had  the  kindness 
to  send  me.  I  received  it  about  three  days  ago  and  am  very  pleased 
with  it. 

This  is  what  it  contained:  one  shirt,  one  drawers,  one  pair  of  socks, 
one  towel,  one  piece  of  soap,  a  mirror,  two  handkerchiefs,  a  box  of 
peas,  package  of  tobacco,  cigarette  paper,  a  pipe,  flint  lighter,  penholder 
and  letter  writing  paper.  You  see,  Madame,  that  nothing  was  missing, 
and  also  I  repeat  it  I  was  most  pleased  with  it. 

If  you  will  send  me  the  size  of  your  finger,  I  will  send  you  one  of 
the  rings  which  we  make  in  the  trenches  in  our  rabbit  holes,  and  please 
give  me  your  name,  so  that  I  can  engrave  it  on  the  ring. 

173 — We  showed  your  lovely  package  to  the  mother  of  the  soldier  be- 
fore sending  it  to  him.  She  was  quite  overcome  by  your  kindness  and 
the  quality  of  the  articles  you  gave  him.  I  hope  you  will  hear  directly 
from  the  soldier  himself. 

Thanking  you  very  much  indeed  for  your  most  kind  help. 

I  am  happy  to  offer  you  my  most  sincere  thanks  for  the  kindness 
you  have  shown  me.  I  cannot  tell  you  what  joy  I  had  on  receiving  the 
splendid  sleeping-bag — joy  shared  by  all  my  comrades,  for  we  use  it  in 
turn,  as  each  one  needs.  Thank  you  therefore,  Madame,  from  the  bot- 
tom of  my  heart,  for  myself  and  for  all  my  comrades. 

I  can  never  thank  you  enough  for  what  you  have  done  for  me. 
The  character  and  the  spirit  of  my  friends,  the  English  and  the  Ameri- 
cans, are  unequalled. 

Once  more  thank  you,  and  I  shall  be  proud  to  fight  again 
alongside  the  British  army. 

617 — I  have  received  your  package  and  with  what  joy!  It  has  been 
such  a  long  time  since  I  have  had  a  change  of  socks  on  my  feet  and 
heaven  knows  in  what  state  they  were,  as  well  as  my  shirt  and  drawers, 
and  so  I  lost  no  time  in  changing^  into  these  good  warm  things.  I  say 
warm,  for  I  have  so  suffered  from  this  terrible  cold;  but  if  I  have  any 
gratitude  for  anybody,  know  that  you  are  of  the  number  and  that  I  do 
not  regret  giving  my  blood  to  avenge  kind  people  like  yourself.  In 
offering  my  body  as  a  rampart  I  avenge  our  dear  France.  If  God  will 
watch  over  me  until  the  end  of  these  hard  trials,  as  He  has  up  to  the 
present,  I  will  have  one  desire,  and  that  is  to  come  and  thank  you  in 
person.  In  the  meanwhile,  please  accept  from  a  real  Frenchman  and 
defender  of  the  flag  my  best  thanks. 

1459 — It  is  with  pleasure  that  I  have  just  received  your  parcel,  for 
it  arrived  after  I  had  been  having  eighteen  days  on  the  first  lines. 
At  least  now  I  can  change  my  shirt  and  wash  the  one  I  am  wearing, 
for  I  think  we  shall  go  to  the  second  line  for  a  few  days. 


29 


988 — I  am  very  happy  to  inform  you  that  I  have  arrived  safely  in  port, 
and  I  thank  you  for  the  underclothing  you  gave  me. 

May  France  have  many  Societies  as  useful  as  yours. 

1717 — Letter  from  an  Algerian  who  was  cook  in  a  well-known  hotel  in 
New  York.    Original  written  in  English. 

I  was  very  pleased  to  receive  your  letter  this  morning.  I  see  that 
you  do  not  forget  the  unknown  soldier  that  I  am.  I  thank  you  kindly 
for  the  American  papers  that  you  sent  to  me;  all  was  here  in  time. 

I  have  a  bit  of  news  to  announce  to  you.  I  lost  my  brother,  who 
was  a  soldier  in  the  Zouaves.  A  friend  of  his  told  me  that  he  was 
wounded  mortally  on  February  17th,  near  Arras,  where  I  was  wounded 
myself  first  time.  He  received  five  shrapnels  in  the  right  side  at 
7  a.m.  and  died  at  5  p.m.  after  a  horrible  agony. 

My  poor  mother  believes  him  a  prisoner,  and  I  always  assured  her, 
and  I  can't  tell  her  he  is  dead  now.  She  is  old  and  will  not  survive 
that  misfortune.    She  is  with  my  sister  at  . 

I  am  leaving  for  Mudros,  Friday  next.    .    .  . 

I  continue  in  French.  It  is  very  useful  to  write  little  letters  in 
English.  I  enclose  some  cards  of  Constantine.  Also  I  thank  you  very 
much  and  beg  you  to  receive  my  respectful  salutations. 

1152 — I  have  just  received  the  mask  you  have  had  sent  to  me.  We 
have  not  yet  used  them,  but  I  think  we  shall  be  forced  to  do  so.  There- 
fore I  thank  you  most  warmly,  for  you  prevent  the  ill,  and  that  is  much 
better  than  curing.  I  am  not  ignorant  of  your  good  heart,  through  my 
wife,  and  I  wish  only  one  thing:  to  be  able  one  day  to  renew  to  you  my 
best  thanks  by  word  of  mouth  for  all  I  owe  up  to  the  present  to  your 
benevolence. 

1184 — I  thank  you  infinitely  for  your  generosity  and  your  good  heart. 
I  should  be  happy  to  be  able  to  shake  hands  with  you.  I  see  also 
that  you  feel  pity  for  the  soldiers  who  fight  in  defence  of  their  country. 

This  morning  the  Superior  came  into  our  room  with  her  arms 
loaded  with  warm  clothing,  jerseys,  flannels,  chest  protectors.  "Who  is 
poorly  dressed?"  she  said.  At  once,  twelve  pairs  of  eyes  were  fixed  on 
the  big  package;  each  one  of  us  chose  what  he  needed;  in  fifteen  min- 
utes, the  Superior  was  cleaned  out. 

I  have  just  arrived  from  Craonne,  where  we  supported  the  shock 
cf  Bodies;  in  these  last  days  we  have  taken  back  by  successful  assault 
the  few  meters  which  they  had  taken  away  from  us.  Our  clothes,  which 
were  cut  up  by  pieces  of  shell  and  used  up  with  mud  and  perspiration, 
were  not  worth  much  and  we  are  very  happy  to  have  a  new  skin. 

It  does  us  good  to  realize  that  charitable  souls  are  contributing  tho 
best  in  their  power  for  the  services  of  France  and  I  think  of  the  gen- 
erous souls  who  each  turned  a  spinning-wheel  for  ransom  of 
Duguesclin.  L. 

Please  accept  my  most  sincere  thanks  for  the  package  that  you  had 
the  kindness  to  send  me  and  which  contained  one  shirt,  one  drawers,  one 
undershirt,  one  pair  of  socks,  one  head  covering,  one  pair  of  mittens, 
two  handkerchiefs.  Please,  dear  Madame,  at  the  same  time  accept  my 
most  sincere  salutations.  A.  C. 


30 


857 — I  come  to  thank  you  for  the  little  parcel  you  have  sent  me.  I 
needed  all  those  things.  Thanks  to  your  great  devotion,  you  help 
our  dear  France  to  a  sure  victory,  for  all  the  convalescents  who  are 
poor  and  without  a  family  return  to  the  front  with  a  lighter  heart, 
knowing  that  while  they  are  fighting,  their  hearths  are  protected  by 
you.  Remember  the  large  part  you  play  in  this  great  world-struggle 
for  the  liberty  of  Europe,  and  through  you  we  count  on  a  peaceful 
future,  for  your  work  is  a  fraternal  work. 

1277 — When  I  came  from  the  "Ouvroir"  Saturday  afternoon,  I  was  very 
astonished  to  see  that  the  paper  which  packed  my  parcel  was  an 
American  one. 

Will  you  excuse  me,  but  I  came  from  America  on  August  12th,  last 
year,  to  rejoin  the  army.  I  was  cook  at  the  Knickerbocker  and  Plaza  in 
New  York,  and  since  that  time  I  never  have  seen  a  paper  from  that 
country. 

I  shall  be  very  pleased  to  get  some  of  those  papers,  no  matter  what 
the  date. 

i  I  expect  to  go  to  the  Dardanelles  "Orient  Expeditionary  Force" 
next  week. 

Can  I  come  to  Holophane  Home  before  my  departure?  I  thank  you 
very  kindly  for  the  shirt  and  socks  that  you  gave  to  me.  I  was  wounded 
twice.    Near  Arras,  December  10th,  at  Ypres,  April  26th. 

Excuse  the  bad  English  that  I  write,  and  I  remain  your  very 
obedient. 

1065 — I  beg  you  to  be  so  kind  as  to  accept  all  my  thanks  for  the  good- 
ness you  show  me.  Be  sure  that  so  long  as  I  am  on  the  earth,  I  shall 
never  forget  your  good  deeds,  in  these  moments  which  are  so  hard  for 
all  of  us,  but  which  will  soon  bring  us  glory. 

1884 — During  my  leave  spent  in  Paris  I  came  to  see  you  and  was  very 
well  received.  Now  that  I  am  in  the  trenches  I  hasten  to  send  you  these 
few  words  to  thank  you  for  the  little  packet  you  were  so  kind  as  to  give 
me — poor  soldier  without  news  of  his  family.  I  hope  Providence  will 
watch  over  my  family,  as  it  has  watched  over  me  since  the  beginning  of 
the  war  and  that  soon  we  shall  be  able  to  deliver  our  dear  country,  and 
see  our  families  again  by  thrusting  the  Germans  out  of  France.  ■ 

I  thank  you  very  much  and  with  all  my  heart  for  the  kindness  you 
have  shown  me.  Son  of  refugees  from  the  Pas  de  Calais,  without  news 
since  September  and  not  having,  like  my  comrades,  the  pleasure  of 
going  to  embrace  my  people.  So,  Madame,  as  you  replace  my  mother,  I 
embrace  you  with  all  my  heart. 

1208 — On  coming  away  from  your  Ouvroir  with  my  nice  packet  of 
things  you  had  made  for  me,  I  felt  myself  greatly  moved  by  so  much 
kindness,  therefore  be  persuaded  that  it  is  with  a  new  provision  of 
ardor  that  we  will,  if  need  be,  return  to  continue  to  thrust  back  the 
invader  from  over  there.  We  will  think  of  the  big  generous  souls  who 
are  working  so,  that  on  our  return,  we  should  think  no  more  of  the 
sufferings  during  this  terrible  period,  and  that  finally  we  may  inhabit 
again  our  ruins.  I  terminate  in  thanking  you  again  from  my  heart  and 
in  crying:  Long  live  France  and  the  Allies! 

1267 — Having  received  what  you  gave  to  my  mother  for  me,  I  come  to 
thank  you  for  ycur  kindness  to  me  and  mother,  because  she  has  told  me 
what  joy  she  had  when  you  gave  her  your  present. 


31 


997 — I  thank  you  for  having  given  rne  some  underclothing;  I  am 
greatly  pleased  with  it,  for  one  has  not  always  time  to  wash  one's 
clothes;  it  is  not  so  much  the  time  for  washing  as  the  water  that 
lacks;  and  too,  we  sometimes  have  vermin;  happily  for  me,  I  have 
not  yet  got  any. 

I  terminate,  Madame,  in  thanking  you  and  sending  all  my  friend- 
ship. I  should  be  pleased  to  have  news  of  you  from  time  to  tim.ejj 
I,  for  my  part,  will  write  to  you  from  time  to  time.  Receive  from  a 
young  defender  a  good-day  from  his  heart. 

2 — I  write  to  announce  to  you  my  departure  and  at  the  same  time 
to  thank  you  with  all  my  heart  for  the  visits  you  paid  me  while  I 
was  at  the  hospital.  Being  separated  from  my  family,  they  could 
not  come  to  visit  me,  so  I  was  very  happy  when  you  came  to  re- 
place them,  for  without  you  I  should  have  been  rather  isolated. 

1261 — I  have  just  received  by  surprise  a  charming  packet  which  I 
did  not  expect.  T  thank  you  for  it  very  much.  I  hope  you  are  still 
well;  as  for  me,  it  is  always  the  same  thing. 

Yesterday,  Mesdames,  I  had  a  narrow  escape.  I  was  on  guard 
with  one  of  my  comrades  in  the  trenches,  when,  at  midnight,  there 
arrived  a  dozen  bombs  in  our  direction.  We  lay  down  flat  on  our 
faces  and  the  point  of  a  bomb  fell  just  between  us.  Afterward  we 
laughed,  for  it  is  not  worth  while  to  worry;  for  us  it  is  all  the  same. 

A.  C. 

1664 — Before  leaving  my  depot  to  return  to  my  perilous  post,  I  wish 
to  express  my  homage  and  my  remembrances  full  of  grateful  admira- 
tion. I  shall  never  forget  the  charming  way  in  which  you  and 
Madame  W  held  out  a  helping  hand  to  me,  by  giving  me  warm  un- 
derclothing, and  thus  helping  me  to  bear  the  changes  of  the  weather. 
Nor  shall  I  forget  the  warm  and  natural  benevolence  which  comforts. 
I  feel  renewed  ardor  and,  in  my  person,  I  realize  that  you  have  con- 
tributed largely  toward  our  final  victory. 

I  add  to  my  letter  a  little  song  which  I  composed  with  a  patri- 
otic object,  and  I  beg  you,  Madame,  to  accept  the  assurances  of  ex- 
treme gratitude  from  a  little  French  soldier. 

1365 — I  have  the  honor  to  tell  you  that  I  have  arrived  safely  at  my 
destination,  and  I  hasten  to  repeat  my  thanks  for  all  you  have  been 
so  kind  as  to  do  for  me. 

Please  believe,  Madame,  that  I  shall  never  forget  the  charming 
reception  you  gave  me,  and  your  great  benevolence  has  touched  me 
profoundly  and  j^our  generosity  toward  my  comrade  and  myself. 
I  also  have  the  best  souvenir  of  your  helpers. 

1369 — Excuse  me  that  I  write  these  few  lines,  but  I  want  to  thank 
you;  you  first  and  then  the  other  workers  at  the  Holophane  Ouvroir, 
for  the  kind  reception  given  to  the  soldiers  returning  to  the  front. 
I  am  very  grateful  to  you,  for  I  assure  you  that  it  is  a  great  joy  for 
a  soldier,  father  of  a  family,  from  the  invaded  country,  who  is  at  the 
front  for  a  year  without  a  break,  and  without  news  or  help,  to  have 
such  a  kind  reception  as  you  gave  me.  I  thank  you  with  all  my  heart 
like  a  real  Frenchman. 


32 


27T5 — I  am  sending  you  this  to  thank  you  for  the  gift  yon  made  me 
when  I  passed  through  Paris  on  my  six  days'  holiday,  for  your  work 
of  charity,  of  which  you  are  the  directress,  is  a  great  help  to  the  un- 
fortunates, who  like  myself  are  deprived  of  everything  and  deprived  of 
their  families  who  stayed  in  the  invaded  districts  like  Lille.  As  winter 
is  coming  in  rapidly,  your  gift  will  render  me  great  service,  for  in  these 
wet  times  one  is  not  exactly  at  home  and  one  has  to  shelter  one's  self 
in  carriages  or  stables  the  best  one  can.  I  do  hope,  Madame,  that  your 
work  will  continue  to  do  good  and  make  many  happy  who,  like  myself, 
pass  by  and  come  to  you.  It  is  for  this  that  I  write  to  thank  you  from 
the  bottom  of  my  heart,  for  your  charity  and  kindness.  I  shall  always 
be  most  grateful.  F.  M. 

2783 —  I  am  writing  you  a  few  words  to  let  you  know  that  I  am  in  good 
health  and  hope  you  are  also.  I  want  to  thank  you  very  much  for  the 
package  you  sent,  which  gave  me  great  pleasure,  especially  the  ginger- 
bread, as  I  had  not  eaten  any  since  the  start  of  the  war. 

2784 —  I  hasten  to  write  you,  to  notify  you  that  I  received  the  package 
that  you  have  had  the  kindness  to  send  me.  I  hope,  Madame,  you  will 
think  of  me  from  time  to  time,  for  I  tell  you  that  this  is  the  first  com- 
fort that  I  have  received  since  I  have  been  fighting.  I  shall  always 
feel  grateful  to  you.  D.  M. 

2300 — Very  happy  to  tell  you  that  I  received  your  package  and  thank 
you  for  your  kindness,  for  since  I  have  been  at  the  front,  it  is  the  first 
that  I  have  received.  As  there  is  nobody  who  can  come  to  my  help,  I 
hope  that  hereafter,  thanks  to  you,  it  will  not  be  the  same.  Also  I 
thank  you  most  sincerely  for  all  you  have  done  for  me  which  softens 
my  lot. 

2318 — Permit  me  to  thank  you  and  to  express  my  gratitude  for  the 
kindness  that  you  have  shown  towards  our  small  ambulance  since  the 
beginning  of  the  war.  Also  wish  to  thank  you  for  all  the  good  things 
you  gave  yesterday  for  our  dear  wounded — the  pajamas,  dressing  gowns 
and  lovely  capes — all  that  will  be  as  comforting  as  useful.  I  add  that 
the  shirts  rejoiced  our  sister,  who  begs  me  to  express  her  gratitude.  It 
is  with  all  my  heart  that  I  thank  you.  M.  R. 

2311 — I  hasten  to  thank  you  for  the  pair  of  socks  given  to  me  by  the 
Abbe.  My  condition  is  that  of  the  many  soldiers  from  the  invaded  dis- 
tricts. Since  more  than  a  year,  I  have  received  no  news  of  my  wife  and 
children,  and  am  in  the  impossibility  of  procuring  anything.  I  would 
be  most  grateful  if  you  could  send  me  a  sweater,  or,  if  you  cannot,  an- 
other pair  of  socks.  R.  L. 

293  8 — I  do  not  wish  to  delay  any  longer  in  thanking  you  for  the 
kind  service  you  have  rendered  in  giving  me  a  little  package  when 
I  came  to  see  you  before  returning  to  the  front.  It  keeps  me  at  this 
moment  warm,  for  I  do  not  know  whether  in  Paris  it  is  cold  as  it  is 
on  our  carriages.  It  rains  night  and  day  at  the  front,  and  so  I  thank 
you  from  the  bottom  of  my  heart,  as  I  am  from  Roubaix  and  have 
no  news  and  no  help  from  anybody.  I  ask  if  you  can  send  me  a  red 
flannel  shirt  and  a  pair  of  socks,  the  same  sort  of  red  shirt  American 
style,  because  it  keeps  my  body  warm.  F.  B. 


33 


2944 — I  wish  to  thank  the  Ouvroir  Holophane  for  the  package  that 
they  have  been  willing  to  give  me.  Luckily  for  us,  there  are  kind 
souls  like  yours  who  have  taken  the  initiative  to  help  the  soldiers  at 
the  front,  especially  those  who  are  entirely  separated  from  their 
families  for  more  than  a  year.  A.  D. 

29  45 — I  wish  to  thank  you  most  sincerely  and  with  all  my  heart  and 
also  the  kind  benefactors  and  especially  Madame  M.  for  the  reception 
that  was  made  to  me  at  the  Ouvroir  Holophane  before  I  returned  to 
the  front.  H.  S.  i 

2947 — On  leave  and  from  the  invaded  districts,  I  received  on  my 
passage  through  Paris  a  welcome  of  the  warmest  sort  at  the  Ouvroir 
Holophane.  Once  more  at  the  front,  I  beg  you  to  accept  my  sincere 
thanks.  D.  B. 

Please  receive  my  most  sincere  thanks  for  the  parcel  you  so 
kindly  sent  me,  in  which  I  found  a  shirt,  drawers,  a  waistcoat,  a  pair 
of  socks,  a  helmet,  a  belt,  a  pair  of  mittens  and  two  handkerchiefs. 


I  take  the  liberty  of  writing  to  you  to  express  my  deep  gratitude. 
I  thank  you,  Madame,  for  the  superb  present  you  sent  me 
through  my  wife.  I  received  it  just  at  the  right  time.  As  it  is  very 
cold  where  I  am,  you  have  rendered  me  a  very  great  service,  and 
your  friendly  sentiments  will  not  be  forgotten  by  us. 


2204 — I  was  in  the  trenches  and  it  was  the  fifteenth  day  that  my 
regiment  was  in  this  place  where  one  only  sees  the  sun  shining  on 
one's  head  without  bringing  any  warmth.  As  I  was  occupied  in 
cleaning  my  knapsack  and  my  gun  and  bayonet  a  package  was 
brought  to  me.  I  was  so  happy  I  asked  myself  if  really  such  luck 
could  have  come,  for  I  have  never  received  one  and  I  confess  I  had 
forgotten  the  letter  I  had  written.  Each  time  that  one  of  my  com- 
rades received  some  comfort  from  his  family  I  looked  on  sadly  and 
I  said,  How  happy  he  is;  and  often  the  comrade  who  knew  I  had  noth- 
ing, divided  with  me  his  things;  also  I  cannot  express  to  you  the  joy 
that  I  had  in  opening  your  package.  I  do  not  know  how  to  thank 
you,  for  everything  in  it  is  most  useful,  and  as  I  am  a  smoker  and 
was  without  tobacco,  I  was  very  happy  to  see  the  tobacco  pouch,  and 
before  I  examined  the  package  I  had  begun  to  light  my  pipe.  There- 
fore a  thousand  thanks,  Madame.  The  day  that  I  wrote  you,  I  had  the 
sorrow  to  learn  that  my  wife  was  dangerously  ill,  and  fifteen  days 
afterward  I  learned  of  her  death.  I  remain  with  two  little  girls,  one 
five  and  one-half  years  old  and  the  other  four.  My  next  girl  is  at 
Berch  convalescing,  for  she  also  has  been  seriously  ill,  and  my  latest 
prayers  every  day  are  that  I  may  come  back  as  soon  as  possible  so  that 
they  will  not  be  orphans.  A.  B. 

816 — I  should  like  to  find  words  to  express  to  you  my  gratitude  and 
the  sentiments  of  admiration  I  have  for  all  those  who  do  good  to  the 
soldiers  and  prove  to  them  by  a  thousand  kindnesses  that,  without 
knowing  them,  they  think  of  them  all  the  same. 

Once  more  dear  Madame,  thank  you.  Be  sure,  I  will  not  forget 
what  you  have  done  for  me  and  I  will  make  it  my  duty,  if  you  permit 
me,  to  give  you  news  of  myself  from  time  to  time  and  to  relate  the  ad- 
ventures which  may  happen  to  me  during  the  campaign. 


34 


1736 — I  write  these  few  lines  to  show  you  that  I  am  still  in  good 
health  and  I  hope  you  are  the  same. 

Dear  friend,  I  have  just  received  with  great  pleasure  your  letter 
in  which  you  give  me  an  address  where  I  can  go  when  on  leave. 
I  have  written,  mentioning  you,  and  I  hope  to  get  leave  in  a  short 
time.  Now  the  day  I  do  go  on  leave  I  will  come  and  wish  you 
good-day. 

In  the  meanwhile,  I  thank  you  a  thousand  times  at  a  distance, 
until  I  can  do  so  personally. 

I  had  great  pleasure  in  reading  your  kind  letter  to  see  how 
very  warm  an  interest  you  take  in  our  soldiers  in  the  trenches.  I 
thank  you  for  the  underclothing  you  sent  me,  especially  as  winter  is 
drawing  near. 

I  should  like  to  bo  able  to  give  you,  as  you  ask,  some  details 
of  our  life,  but  the  Censor  .  .  .  !  and  we  regret  greatly  having  to  weigh 
our  words.  In  spite  of  that,  I  will  tell  you  that  our  soldiers  at  the 
front  are  in  excellent  spirits,  and  at  present  we  are  doing  excellent 
things  and  hope  that  soon  we  shall  be  glorious  victors. 

Having  just  received  the  parcel  you  were  so  kind  as  to  send  me, 
I  wish  to  express  on  this  card  my  gratitude  and  to  tell  you  what  very 
charitable  work  you  do  every  day  among  the  unfortunate  soldiers 
from  the  invaded  regions,  and  how  happy  we  are  when  we  receive 
your  parcels  enclosing  such  useful  things  and  so  many  treats,  and 
how  glad  we  are  to  know  that  there  are  kind  people  who  try  to  re- 
place our  poor  parents. 

825 — Since  my  letter  acknowledging  the  receipt  of  the  sleeping 
sack,  I  have  had  the  occasion  of  using  your  handsome  present  daily 
and  of  appreciating  its  usefulness.  We  have  passed  a  week  in  the 
woods,  by  bad  weather,  and  we  had  to  sleep  on  the  ground,  with- 
out shelter.  You  may  think  it  was  necessary  to  have  something 
v/aterproof  under  one.  The  weather  seems  still  uncertain  and  the 
rain  and  the  wind  succeed  the  sun. 

We  are  not  yet  attacking  from  this  side,  but  we  hope  the  day  is 
near  when  we  shall  thrust  the  enemy  from  our  midst.  I  wanted  to 
express  to  you  once  more  my  gratitude. 

I  make  it  a  duty  to  write  you  this  letter  in  order  to  send  you 
my  most  sincere  thanks  for  your  kind  heart  and  for  your  great  gen- 
erosity in  respect  to  us.  My  wife  has  given  me  the  underclothes 
which  you  gave  her  for  me.  Therefore  I  owe  you  all  my  thanks.  I 
am  in  the  automobile  corps  as  a  motor-cyclist.  It  is  a  very  hard 
service  and  especially  exposed  to  all  weathers. 

I  also  thank  you  in  the  name  of  my  wife  for  the  work  that  you 
are  giving  her  that  enables  her  to  earn  a  little  while  awaiting  the 
arrival  of  our  child.  As  for  me,  I  am  prepared  for  all  eventualities 
that  may  occur  in  my  service,  like  any  good  soldier. 

Thanking  you  most  sincerely,  I  beg  that  you  will  accept  ray 
respectful  salutations.  N.  N. 

I  received  your  package  all  right  yesterday.  I  am  very  grateful 
and  thank  you  sincerely.  When  we  consider  all  the  trenches  by 
which  we  soldiers  are  surrounded,  it  is  impossible  that  we  should 
not  be  grateful  because  we  must  be  worthy  of  those  who  are  look- 
ing after  our  comfort.  R-  F. 


35 


1760 — I  have  the  honor  to  thank  you  very  humbly  for  your  parcel, 
which  I  can  assure  you,  has  given  me  great  pleasure.  At  the  same  time 
I  must  tell  you  that  I  had  a  good  journey,  and  you  may  be  sure  that  I 
am  of  good  courage  and  hope  as  soon  as  possible  to  deliver  our  dear 
country  from  the  Boches.  For,  for  us  life  is  not  happy,  as  we  have  had 
no  news  from  our  parents  since  the  beginning  of  the  war.  You  can 
understand,  Madame,  that  for  us  in  the  regiment,  life  is  not  very  happy, 
but  also,  I  think,  with  our  friends,  the  English,  who  are  as  devoted 
as  we  are  and  most  courageous,  not  to  forget  the  unfortunate  Belgians, 
who  are  no  happier  than  we  are,  that  we  shall  soon  get  the  better  of 
the  enemy. 

When  you  sent  me  the  underclothing  I  had  no  change  of  shirt;  that 
is  a  sad  thing  to  have  to  say. 

I  must  tell  you  in  this  letter  that  we  are  returning  to  the  firing 
lines,  but  we  are  all  united  in  the  same  thought — we  soldiers:  we  only 
wish  one  thing  and  that  is  to  defeat  the  Boches. 

A  poilu  who  sends  you  his  deepest  respects  and  who  cries:  Long 
live  France!  Long  live  England! 

962 — I  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  your  parcel,  which  has  given  me 
great  pleasure,  for,  dear  lady,  I  will  tell  you  that  for  ten  months  I  am 
a  soldier,  and  it  is  the  first  parcel  I  have  received;  my  family  being 
in  the  North,  I  receive  no  news  from  anyone,  except  my  two  brothers. 

Dear  Madame,  I  will  tell  you  that  it  is  very  sad  to  have  no  news 
from  one's  family,  without  knowing  how  the  Germans  treat  them;  if 
only  one  knew  them  to  be  in  good  health,  one  would  be  more  contented. 

Bui  one  must  have  patience,  for  it  is  to  defend  our  country  against 
those  who  want  to  take  it  from  us. 

I  thank  the  Americans  of  the  Committee  who  have  been  so  kind 
as  to  make  me  a  present. 

334 — How  can  I  thank  you  enough,  dear  Madame,  for  your  splendid 
generosity  towards  me  in  sending  me  the  parcel  of  underclothing,  which 
will  be  most  comfortable. 

Beyond  that,  dear  Madame,  I  am  happy  to  see  that  there  are  many 
truly  kind-hearted  people,  such  as  one  meets  with  in  books,  but  who 
are  unfortunately  rare  in  real  life. 

For  my  part,  I  was  wounded  last  October.  I  am  from  the  North, 
and  my  country  has  been  occupied  by  the  Germans  since  October,  so  I 
am  without  news  of  my  family.  I  was  married  five  months  before  the 
war;  so  you  see,  Madame,  how  I  am  situated.  With  the  best  will  in 
the  world,  I  can  get  nothing  from  home. 

I  seize  the  permission  to  write  you  to  express  my  feelings  of 
gratitude. 

I  thank  you  very  much,  Madame,  for  the  superb  present  that  you 
sent  me  through  my  wife.  I  just  received  it  in  time,  as  it  is  very  cold 
at  the  Grand  Couronne.  It  is  a  real  service  that  you  are  doing  for  me 
and  at  the  same  time  a  sentiment  of  friendship  for  France,  something 
which  is  not  forgotten  amongst  us.  Please  accept,  Madame,  my  best 
thanks  and  the  expression  of  my  best  sentiments.  H.  M. 

From  the  bottom  of  my  heart  I  thank  you.  I  have  just  received 
the  hospital  bed  wrap.  I  am  extremely  touched  by  the  interest  you 
have  shown,  and  I  beg  you  to  believe  in  my  respectful  and  devoted 
sentiments. 


36 


CORRESPONDENCE  FROM  SOLDIERS 


1666 — All  my  thanks  and  all  my  respects  for  the  joy  and  happiness  you 
have  given  me  to-day.  I  have  received  your  kind  letter  containing  such 
kind  and  sweet  thoughts.  The  hand-shake  you  send  me;  the  permission 
to  call  myself  your  "godson";  all  that  makes  me  very  happy  and  goes 
straight  to  my  heart,  and  I  cannot  write  further  until,  here  in  my  hut, 
on  the  front,  150  meters  from  the  enemy  whom  we  shall  soon  conquer, 
I  say  one  simple  word,  sincere,  straight  from  my  heart — Thank  you. 

I  accept  with  great  pleasure,  Madame,  the  honor  of  becoming  your 
correspondent.  To  be  able  to  say  what  he  thinks,  what  he  does,  to  re- 
count his  sorrows,  his  joys,  his  hopes,  to  know  that  someone  is  think- 
ing of  him,  will  write  to  him,  that  is  the  real  happiness  of  the  soldier.  I 
do  not  know  what  it  means  to  receive  letters.  My  parents  are  prisoners 
in  the  hands  of  the  enemy.  All  the  steps  taken  to  find  them  have  so 
far  had  the  same  result,  although  I  have  applied  to  the  Red  Cross,  and  the 
Geneva  Cross.  When  I  am  your  godson,  I  can  wait  for  the  arrival  of 
the  post,  the  post  which  will  bring  me  moral  comfort,  because  from  my 
godmother.  I  shall  have  the  same  thoughts  and  receive  the  same  ad- 
vice as  my  own  mother  would  give  me  if  she  were  there. 

A  godmother  is  for  me  my  family,  so  I  am  strong  to-day,  for  I 
know  that  I  can  say:  "Courage,  your  godmother  is  thinking  of  you. 
Courage,  you  are  no  longer  alone,"  and  at  night  I  will  pray  for  my  god- 
mother. In  the  battle,  I  will  fight  thinking  of  you,  Madame.  My  letter 
does  not  give  you  much  information;  it  is  not  as  long  as  I  wished  to 
make  it;  excuse  me,  but  I  do  not  want  to  take  up  your  attention  for 
too  long.  I  will  often  send  you  news  and  I  will  give  you  all  the  details 
you  ask  of  me,  there  is  no  fear  of  indiscretion.  I  hope  to  hear  from  you 
at  length  before  long.    A  letter  from  you  will  make  me  very  happy. 

1866 — Having  received  your  charming  card,  which  has  given  me  the 
greatest  pleasure,  I  hasten  to  thank  you  infinitely  for  the  praises  you 
give  me;  that  gives  me  courage  and  resolution,  for  our  sole  desire  is 
to  die  on  the  field  of  honor,  to  save  the  world  from  the  great  danger 
which  menaces  it,  for  our  aggressor  only  wants  barbarity  and  to  sup- 
press liberty  and  civilization.  But  I  hope  that  we  shall  conquer,  and 
then  he  who  has  the  happiness  to  survive  this  hecatomb,  will  be  able 
to  enjoy  peace  and  be  no  longer  called  to  the  frontiers  to  arrest  these 
frightful  Teutons.  Therefore  we  await  with  calm  the  hour  of  the  of- 
fensive; an  hour  which  is  near  and  which  will,  we  hope,  be  favorable. 

1747 — In  answering  the  letter  you  wrote  me  and  which  gave  me  great 
pleasure,  I  thank  you  with  all  my  heart  for  your  kindness  towards 
me  and  the  trouble  you  took  to  write  to  Madame  M.,  who  is  so  good  as 
to  accept  me  as  godson.  I  am  very  grateful  to  you,  for  you  cannot  tell 
how  consoling  it  is  to  receive  a  little  letter,  after  having  been  so  long 
without  a  word  from  anyone;  how  nice  it  is,  when  the  post  arrives,  to 
get  a  letter,  to  open  it  and  find  in  it  words  which  give  strength  and 
courage.  But  in  spite  of  all,  I  have  never  lost  faith  or  courage,  for  we 
need  them  and  shall  need  them  still  more  when  the  moment  comes  to 
turn  the  wild  beasts  out  of  their  lair. 

1062 — I  am  deeply  touched  by  the  good  you  do  to  my  wife  and  child. 
I  count  it  a  great  honor  and  my  duty  to  write  to  you  the  present  let- 
ter and  to  send  you  all  my  thanks  for  your  kindness  toward  them. 


37 


850 — Permit  the  liberty  I  am  taking  in  sending  you  these  few  words, 
but  by  this  present  letter  I  wish  to  thank  you,  Madame,  very  much 
for  having  been  so  kind  as  to  employ  my  wife,  for  not  being  paid 
by  my  employer  and  not  being  rich,  the  little  she  earns  can  help  her 
to  live,  with  her  allowance.  For  a  household  being  deprived  of  the 
husband's  hands,  it  is  very  hard  for  a  woman  to  get  along  all  alone, 
above  all  in  a  case  like  this,  my  wife  not  being  very  young  and  not 
very  well,  also  it  gives  me  more  courage  to  think  that  my  wife  can 
earn  a  few  sous  during  my  absence,  so  as  to  be  simply  a  little  fur- 
ther away  from  absolute  misery. 

In  spite  of  the  bad  days,  nights  and  hours  I  have  passed  through 
and  shall  still  pass  through,  it  comforts  and  consoles  me  to  think 
that  my  wife  will  be  able  to  get  along  during  my  so  long  absence,  with- 
out knowing  when  it  will  all  be  over.  Also  I  thank  you,  Madame,  very 
much  for  being  so  kind  as  to  take  an  interest  in  her.  Up  to  the 
present,  in  spite  of  the.  great  fatigues  and  the  bad  moments  I  have 
passed  in  "hell,"  I  am  well,  but  last  week  there  was  one  night  which 
I  thought  was  going  to  be  my  last.  I  must  believe  that  my  hour  has 
not  yet  struck,  and  so  I  do  not  pay  any  more  attention  to  all  this  fire 
and  noise,  for  now  I  am  proof;  one  gets  a  little  deaf. 

I  should  like  to  give  a  few  details  to  Madame,  as  to  the  situation 
we  are  in  in  our  '"'secteur,"  but  it  is  absolutely  forbidden  to  tell  any- 
thing whatever  on  this  subject  on  pain  of  court  martial,  but  all  is 
going  on  well.  Up  to  the  present  hour  we  have  the  advantage  and 
little  by  little  we  progress;  that  encourages  us,  for  we  have  confi- 
dence in  our  chiefs.  We  are  not  too  badly  fed  but  we  rarely  get  any 
little  supplement;  in  spite  of  that  I  am  well.  Madame  will  excuse 
my  scribble,  for  I  have  no  pen,  and  it  is  very  difficult  to  get  even  a 
pencil.    I  send  my  respectful  salutations. 

1278 — I  have  just  at  this  moment  received  a  shirt,  pair  of  socks,  tobacco 
and  chocolate.  I  do  not  know  how  to  express  my  gratitude,  so  I  say  sim- 
ply, thank  you.  Thus  in  our  life  so  rudimentary  in  the  absence  of  all 
leve  of  our  own,  any  friendly  letter,  any  assistance,  anonymous  or  not, 
any  attention,  even  the  simplest,  takes  in  our  eyes  huge  proportions 
and  it  is  then  that  we  know  how  to  appreciate  a  woman's  kindness  and 
that  we  pronounce  softly  your  name  like  a  miser  who  hides  a  treasure. 


1478 — To  keep  on  thanking  you  would  become  monotonous.  It  would 
mean  repeating  the  same  word.  Since  you  only  understand  the  one 
word  "giving,"  let  me  rather  assure  you  of  my  lasting  and  infinite  re-  \ 
spect,  assuring  you  that  if  in  these  sad  moments  you  so  nobly  do  your 
duty,  I  should  rather  say,  Madame,  your  mission  of  woman,  I  on  my 
side  will  not  be  left  behind  and  I  will  proudly  do  my  duty  as  a  man, 
which  I  think  is  the  best  way  of  proving  my  gratitude.  I  have  received 
your  mask  against  asphyxiating  gases  and  your  good  package.  I  do 
not  wish  to  seem  importunate,  Madame,  and  I  hesitate  to  formulate 
a  request,  but  it  does  rain  so  in  our  district  and  if  by  chance  you  had 
some  sort  of  a  waterproof,  it  could  be  of  use  to  me  and  my  comrades 
to  whom  I  would  lend  it  when  on  guard.  Spoiled  children,  Madame, 
are  exacting  and  you  have  accustomed  me  to  your  kindness.  So  it  is  in 
the  most  humble  manner  that  I  ask  you  to  accept  my  entire  devotion 
and  hope  to  be  pardoned  in  advance.  Please,  Madame,  receive  the  ex- 
cuses of  a  soldier. 


38 


g05 — Please  excuse  the  pencil,  for  ink  does  not  exist  here  and  I 
have  always  to  write  on  my  knees.  I  received  your  letter  of  April 
28th,  and  waited  for  the  arrival  of  your  parcel  to  answer  you,  This 
morning  then,  I  received  the  splendid  sleeping  bag,  accompanied  by  a 
shirt,  drawers,  a  pair  of  socks  and  a  handkerchief.  I  am  most  grate- 
ful to  you  for  so  much  kindness. 

As  to  the  sleeping-bag,  I  have  not  yet  made  use  of  it,  but  I  am  sure 
it  will  fulfil  the  required  conditions — keep  me  warm  in  the  night,  in 
the  trench-shelters  and  when  camping  in  the  woods.  At  present  we  are 
at  the  rear,  but  to-morrow  we  go  to  the  first  lines. 

You  ask  me  to  speak  of  my  life  in  the  trenches;  I  do  not  know 
what  point  would  interest  you  the  most.  You  must  know  that  life  is 
not  all  roses;  it  sometimes  happens  to  us  to  have  to  fast  for 
twenty-four  hours,  when  the  cooks  cannot  bring  us  the  evening  meal; 
in  the  day-time,  it  is  impossible  for  them  to  come,  for  fear  of  being 
seen  by  the  enemy  (there  is  no  underground  communication  trench). 
They  have  to  do  four  kilometers  in  the  woods  to  get  to  us.  Our  fore- 
posts  are  at  the  edge  of  a  wood  and  face  a  wide  plain,  which  will  be 
difficult  to  take.  However,  we  do  not  lose  courage,  and  hope  soon  to 
see  our  efforts  crowned  with  success. 

It  is  sweet  for  us  to  think  that  so  many  friends,  known  and  un- 
known, do  not  forget  us,  but  sympathize  with  us.  There  are  some  who 
are  more  to  be  pitied  than  others,  and  we  try  amongst  us  to  come  to 
the  help  of  those  who,  being  from  the  invaded  country,  have  no  news 
from  their  families  and  have  not  the  privilege  of  receiving  from  them 
the  little  luxuries  we  appreciate  so  much. 

1539 — I  thank  you  sincerely  for  thinking  of  me;  also  thank  the  others  at 
the  Ouvroir,  but  I  will  ask  you  not  to  send  me  any  underclothing,  for 
we  have  what  is  needful  both  as  regards  food  and  clothing,  and  at  pres- 
ent it  is  not  cold.  As  for  me,  I  have  a  principle.  Ever  since  the  start 
of  the  war,  of  this  extraordinary  movie  show,  when  I  lack  a  shirt  I  get 
around  the  difficulty  in  a  very  simple  way — I  get  along  without  it.  If  I 
have  no  socks,  then  I  can  walk  fairly  well  without,  and  so  on,  as  long 
as  the  trousers  and  the  coat  and  the  cap  don't  leave  me;  with  a  gun 
and  cartridges,  that  is  the  principal  thing.  Here  life  is  monotonous; 
not  too  much  news.  One  passes  one's  time  looking  at  aeroplanes  get- 
ting bombarded.  On  the  other  hand,  our  comrades  nearby,  principally 
from  my  own  company  about  400  meters  off,  are  being  rained  with  tor- 
pedoes. Fritz  does  not  amuse  us  much;  then  you  know  if  he  gets  too 
turbulent  we  have  got  some  sedative  ready  for  him.  So  much  for  our 
sorrows.  My  joys  are  limited  to  the  letters  I  receive;  it  is  the  only 
link  with  the  family.  However,  I  tell  you  that  when  I  receive  a  letter 
from  my  mother  at  times  it  makes  me  feel  badly.  I  get  thinking  too 
much  about  those  I  love;  but  in  a  half  hour  it  is  gone  and  I  return  to 
work,  that  is  to  say,  watching  in  the  trenches.  You  ask  me  from  what 
district  I  am.  From  your  own,  at  least  I  presume  so.  Born  in  Paris,  I 
will  die  there  unless  the  pointed  helmets  do  not  leave  me  a  chance  to 
do  so.  My  life  is  simple.  I  work  when  it  is  time  and  I  amuse  myself 
as  I  can.  I  am  the  oldest  of  five  children.  My  mother  is  alone  but  not 
unhappy.  Two  of  my  brothers  are  working  and  one  of  my  sisters.  My 
third  brother  is  a  cripple  and  stays  at  home.  I  have  a  little  illegitimate 
girl  four  years  old  whom  my  mother  is  bringing  up.  She  is  growing 
up  without  knowing  her  father,  but  is  none  the  worse  off  for  that.  I  am 
not  worrying  about  her,  for  if  I  do  not  come  back  she  will  always  have 
a  name  and  family. 


39 


1573 — As  you  see  from  the  heading  of  this  letter,  I  have  changed  my  dis- 
trict, which  is  the  reason  I  have  not  answered  you.  We  have  a  little 
of  the  Bohemian  and  of  the  Apache,  sleeping  during  the  day  and  march- 
ing at  night.  Finally  we  are  stranded  here  between  two  waters  on  a 
road  between  a  canal  and  the  river  Aisne.  In  this  river  we  have  been 
doing  a  little  fishing  and  swimming  and  even  yachting.  We  amuse  our- 
selves in  making  little  boats  just  like  children  do  in  the  Tuilleries 
Gardens.  Afterwards  one  has  a  bath,  and  then  people  pity  soldiers!  It 
makes  me  laugh.  If  the  unfortunate  civilians  who  vegetate  only  knew 
how  one  lives  they  would  all  enlist  and  would  ask  for  war  and  nothing 
but  war.  Here  one  awaits  the  postman  like  the  Messiah,  and  a  simple 
postcard,  even  one  word,  makes  one  forget.  If  only  you  would  be  will- 
ing to  write  me  and  it  does  not  bore  you  to  write  me,  it  would  give  me 
pleasure  to  answer  you,  especially  as  some  day  I  may  be  breakfasting 
with  Pluto,  but  this  is  as  late  as  possible. 

1632 — I  wrote  you  lately  in  reference  to  myself  and  I  forgot  to  ask  you 
if  you  could  put  me  in  touch  with  a  Godmother.  Besides  the  joy  of 
corresponding,  I  am  certain  that  the  words  of  encouragement  that  I 
would  receive  would  give  to  me  and  my  comrades  who  may  have  this 
happiness  the  effect  of  the  sun  on  a  beautiful  landscape. 

1733 — I  did  not  wish  to  write  you  for  fear  of  sending  you  a  scribble  on  a 
"scrap  of  paper,"  but  I  hope  you  will  excuse  me,  for  my  desk  is  the  bot- 
tom of  the  trench.  The  house  of  Maple  &  Company  has  not  come  around 
this  way  yet.  We  have  left  the  farm  where  we  were  so  comfortably 
fixed.  We  stayed  there  two  days,  and  since  that  time  we  have  been 
digging  trenches  for  those  who  may  have  the  right  to  the  cross  of  wood 
or  for  those  who  will  advance,  and  then  it  will  be  the  cross  of  war 
or  something  else.  In  short,  melancholy  is  banished  from  our  company. 
The  most  unfortunate  thing  is  that  we  have  stopped  all  of  our  games  in 
order  to  make  ramparts.  We  leave  at  four  o'clock  in  the  morning  and 
we  return  to  our  regiment  at  the  fall  of  night,  and  as  our  lodging  is 
composed  of  a  bit  of  corrugated  iron  on  four  poles  you  see  that  our 
quarters  are  rather  uncomfortable;  but  we  are  in  the  middle  of  woods, 
and  if  it  was  not  that  the  big  cannons  are  spillings  their  pills  one  would 
imagine  himself  at  Mendon  or  at  Clamart.  The  ground  is  clay,  and  so 
when  it  rains  we  do  skiing  without  wanting  to.  Fortunately  the  trees 
prevent  us  from  skiing,  and  in  the  middle  of  the  night,  with  gas  and 
electricity  cut  off,  it  is  really  laughable.  In  the  trenches  you  could 
imagine  yourself  in  Venice,  but  in  a  muddy  Venice.  But  why  complain? 
That  does  not  help  any,  and  mud  baths  are  fashionable  and  here  you 
don't  have  to  pay  for  them.  I  thank  you  for  interesting  yourself  in  my 
little  girl.  Perhaps  she  will  receive  you  better  than  she  did  me  when  I 
came  back  to  Paris  two  months  ago.  She  did  not  recognize  me.  I 
hope  to  have  leave  at  Christmas  or  New  Years;  only  I  do  not  know  if  it 
will  be  in  1915,  1916,  1917  or  19—. 

In  any  case  the  country  air  suits  me.  No  auto  busses;  no  taxis; 
one  thing  I  miss,  the  asphalt  in  the  Rue  de  la  Paix.  In  short,  I  hope  to 
again  find  everything,  when  William  has  had  enough,  unless  your 
servant  forgets  to  breathe  and  makes  a  trip  to  the  kingdom  of  moles. 

1454 — Very  touched  by  your  kindness,  I  thank  you  very  much  for  your 
package.  Knowing  that  one  is  interested  in  us  and  that  those  who  are 
far  off  do  not  forget  us,  that  gives  us  courage  and  will  bring  to  a  good 
finish  the  work  begun. 


40 


1536 — I  have  received  your  kind  letter  in  which  you  asked  me  to  tell 
you  about  my  home  and  my  means.  Madame,  for  the  past  four  years  I 
have  inhabited  Dampremny.  I  left  all  my  possessions,  furniture  and 
little  things  which  make  up  a  home,  in  order  to  come  back  and  defend 
my  country.  After  six  months  of  captivity  I  had  to  cross  Belgium  to 
get  to  Holland,  England  and  then  France.  What  I  have  done  I  would 
do  again  with  all  my  heart  if  it  had  to  be  redone.  There  you  have  what 
I  am  and  my  whereabouts.  I  would  never  have  told  you,  unless  you 
had  asked  me. 

1573-B — You  have  expressed  the  wish  to  see  my  little  girl.  Here  is  the 
address  of  my  mother.  The  quarter  is  not  very  beautiful;  it  has  noth- 
ing of  the  Boulevard  Haussmann. 

2199 —  Do  not  accuse  me  of  negligence  or  ingratitude.  Many  things 
have  happened  since  you  sent  me  your  last  letter.    We  were  at  that 

moment  at  where  during  three  nights  we  were  digging  trenches. 

Every  day  we  were  bombarded  with  105's  and  150's,  and  every  night 
we  dug  with  our  pickaxes  or  we  covered  the  ground  in  patrols.  The 
third  night,  the  work  being  done,  the  order  arrives  to  pack  up  and 
move  off  fifteen  kilometers  in  order  to  rest  us  from  our  work.  Then  a 
halt  in  a  field,  rest  for  two  hours  and  off  again  twelve  kilometers,  then 
stop,  auto-bus  eighty  kilometers  and  rest  for  a  day.  The  next  day  we 
leave  at  half-past  five  in  the  rain  and  arrive  at  eleven  at  the  front 
again,  soaked  to  our  bones,  with  mud  in  our  mustaches  and  hair.  We 
were  relieved  three  days  before  the  time  by  order  of  the  major,  who 
feared  fatigue.  I  slept  nine  hours  in  seventy-six.  Our  departure  took 
place  in  the  same  conditions  with  rain.  It  is  indeed  a  time  to  thank 
you  for  your  sleeping  bag.  It  has  been  most  useful.  I  do  not  wish  to 
cause  you  pain,  dear  Madame.  I  only  wish  to  give  you  an  idea  of  the 
continual  downpour  that  we  suffer  from.  What  would  I  become  with- 
out it,  and  I  pity  my  poor  comrades  who  have  not  got  any.  You  say, 
dear  Madame,  that  you  expect  to  receive  news  notwithstanding  the 
Godmother  you  have  given  me.  Since  yesterday  I  have  been  appointed 
bicyclist  of  the  brigade. 

2200 —  I  to-day  received  your  charming  letter  which  I  confess  greatly 
affected  me.  One  cannot  give  in  a  more  delicate  fashion  than  you  do 
it  and  believe  me,  dear  Madame,  the  way  in  which  it  is  done  cannot  be 
taught,  so  I  am  doubly  grateful  to  you  for  the  presents  and  the  manner 
in  which  they  are  given.  When  lately  you  sent  me  the  newspaper  arti- 
cle prophesying  the  probable  length  of  the  war  I  was  tempted  to  an- 
swer this.  Madame,  we  are  doing  and  will  continue  to  do  our  duty,  be- 
cause we  are  soldiers  and  Frenchmen,  but  you  strengthen  us  by  send- 
ing us  your  hopes  in  helping  us  with  your  personal  interest.  We  will 
conquer,  because  in  you  we  have  kindness.  I  have  answered  you  at 
once,  for  we  leave  for  the  first  lines  to-night.  I  carry  your  letters  on 
my  heart,  because  it  is  the  best  talisman. 

2205 — I  answer  very  late,  Madame,  and  I  ask  your  pardon,  but  we  have 
so  little  rest.  We  are  working  so  hard  and  I  feel  pardoned  in  advance. 
Since  yesterday  we  have  had  several  killed  and  wounded  and  by  to- 
night at  all  costs  we  must  have  the  works  ready.  It  is  owing  to  the 
kindness  of  a  friend  that  I  am  able  to  write  you  this  letter,  as  he  has 
given  up  his  sleep  in  order  to  work  in  my  place.  You  can  count  on  me, 
Madame;  I  will  give  you  a  large  part  of  my  thoughts,  for  you  are  good 
to  the  soldiers. 


41 


2203 — One  day  succeeds  another.  Fortunately  the  two  first  days  in  our 
district  have  been  favorable.  The  sun,  although  somewhat  feeble,  kept 
company  with  us  for  some  time.  The  nights  on  the  other  hand  are  cold 
and  it  needs  all  my  will  power  to  react  against  five  hours  of  watching 
in  the  trenches.  The  body  is  stiff  and  the  eyes  look  out  into  darkness. 
Only  the  thought  tries  to  guess  the  anguishing  problem,  is  it  for  to- 
night or  for  the  dawn?  And  one  looks  out  fascinated  by  the  respon- 
sibility that  is  confided  to  us  to  watch  over  your  friends  and  to  watch 
over  your  country.  Everybody  is  sleeping,  except  here  and  there  the 
outline  of  a  gun.  Every  now  and  then  a  rocket  of  a  friend  or  an  enemy 
lights  the  neighboring  land.  During  these  hours  I  try  to  guess  the 
thought  of  all  married  men,  these  sons  and  these  men  who  also  hold 
watch  over  souls  who  also  have  families,  children  and  old  parents, 
friends.  Sometimes  after  a  night  or  after  a  day  I  hear  some  complain, 
but  I  am  used  to  it  all,  for  I  know  that  all  these  suffering  men  are 
Frenchmen.    Let  an  alarm  come  and  I  will  see  them  all  rush  to  the 

fight  and  the  proof  of  this  is  that  previous  to  the  attack  at  H  , 

some  of  these  chaps  were  growling.  Well,  Madame,  the  morning  of 
our  departure  yesterday,  the  day  I  wrote  you,  seven  of  these  heroic 
growlers  received  in  front  of  the  flag  the  war  medal  and  it  will  always 
be  the  same  until  the  end,  until  victory.  In  case  I  should  have  the 
right  to  a  leave,  and  surely,  dear  Madame,  I  have  the  right  to  a  leave, 
it  will  be  for  me  the  happy  chance  to  come  and  thank  you  in  person  for 
your  untiring  kindness. 

2207 — We  have  again  been  changing  our  district.  My  feet  are  bruised. 
We  made  all  the  march  on  foot,  the  first  day  about  twenty  kilometers, 
stopped  in  a  village  about  eight  o'clock  at  night.  As  this  village  only 
had  about  forty  houses  and  we  were  more  than  2,000  men,  it  was  neces- 
sary for  those  who  came  last  to  find  the  best  shelter  they  could.  I  chose 
a  dog  kennel,  which  I  had  the  sense  to  fill  with  hay.  Unfortunately, 
most  of  my  legs  were  out  under  the  skies;  the  result,  cold  and  poor 
sleep;  the  remedy  against  the  cold,  to  walk  up  and  down.  That  night 
we  left  for  the  trenches,  six  hours'  march.  The  work  we  are  doing  is 
not  very  agreeable,  although  it  is  not  the  first  time  that  we  do  it,  but 
it  is  the  first  time  that  we  are  executing  them  under  such  unfortunate 
conditions,  advancing  trenches  to  eighty  meters  from  the  Germans  on 
a  flat  land  with  a  clear  moon  with  rapid-fire  guns,  hand  grenades,  gun 
shots;  some  are  wounded.  We  have  been  ordered  to  try  sapping  to- 
night. To-night  we  will  try  it,  for  it  goes  quicker  that  way.  I  had 
forgotten  to  mention  an  impression  which  left  a  deep  memory  in  me. 
It  was  on  my  last  march.  The  night  was  falling;  suddenly  some  houses 
appear.  It  is  a  village.  A  few  inhabitants,  young  women  and  children, 
come  out  at  the  noise  of  the  soldiers.  Suddenly  a  door  opens  and  two 
old  people  appear,  and  the  old  lady  (grandmother,  no  doubt)  lifts  up 
her  arms  and  says  to  us  so  softly,  "Stay  with  us,  my  children,"  and 
the  old  man  shaking  his  head  in  acquiescence  and  in  his  eyes  the  flame 
of  pride  and  hope.  That  moment  I  thought  that  if  the  times  permitted 
this  worthy  old  lady  to  give  us  this  invitation  and  before  this  gesture 
of  love  and  pity,  I  understood  that  our  cause  could  not  become  dis- 
united and  so*  I  turned  aside  my  head  with  a  cough  and  blew  my  nose 
hard  in  order  not  to  let  tears  appear,  not  that  I  was  too  old  to  cry, 
seeing  that  it  would  have  expressed  my  gratitude  toward  this  old 
peasant  that  I  will  never  see  again.  I  will  stop  for  to-day,  Madame. 
Hope  is  with  us.  We  are  fighting  for  a  good  cause.  Right  gives 
strength. 


42 


2103 — I  wish  before  all  to  thank  you  for  having  visited  my  little  family. 
That  ray  of  sunshine  is  not  for  me,  for  the  moment  at  least.    Do  not 
think  I  am  jealous  of  the  happiness  of  those  that  see  it  every  day.  I 
would  give  a  great  deal  to  see  her  for  five  minutes.    The  principle  for 
me  is  that  she  shall  not  lack  anything,  and  in  this  respect  I  think  I 
am  not  mistaken  in  saying  that  she  has  the  necessary,  and  perhaps 
more.    My  brother  looks  like  her  papa.    I  will  say  that  it  is  he  who 
brought  her  up  since  she  was  six  months.    You  will  see  by  that  that 
the  child  can  love  him  and  without  boast  perhaps,  he  has  told  you  so. 
It  is  he  who  kept  her  from  dying,  yet  the  little  one  is  still  in  this  world. 
It  is  again  thanks  to  him.   He  is  her  real  mother.   As  for  me,  I  am  still 
in  the  same  place,  but  a  very  noisy  place.    All  day  long  it  rains,  not 
kisses,  but  shells  with  their  noisy  escort  of  hand  grenades,  bombs,  etc., 
not  to  forget  torpedoes.    These  Germans  are  really  people  without  2 
cents  of  tact,  for  in  the  morning  at  the  very  hour  that  Marie,  that  is, 
the  maid,  brings  our  Mocha,  bang!  there  you  are.   The  77's  commence, 
and  at  the  sacred  hour  of  the  appetizer,  the  same  total  lack  of  educa- 
tion.   While  it  is  their  kultur,  one  thing  pleases  me,  that  is  at  night, 
these  gentlemen  have  a  very  powerful  electric  searchlight,  and  every 
time  that  the  spray  of  light  travels  ghosts  of  thick  shrapnels  come  to 
tell  you  the  effect  that  this  makes  as  regards  noise  and  more  as  regards 
appearance.    Really,  it  is  fairy-like.    The  smoke  and  explosion  in  the 
middle  of  the  night  makes  you  think  of  the  Chatelet  Theatre,  but  it  is 
annoying,  for  the  spectators  sometimes  are  obliged  to  go  to  the  hospital 
or  to  Paradise;  but  what  slipshod  men  these  Germans  are.    This  night 
and  this  morning  they  presented  us  with  at  least  60  to  80  shells  of 
105  and  77,  and  for  what  purpose?    It  is  enough  to  cry  about.  They 
killed  one  unfortunate  man  and  wounded  four  others;  total,  a  terrific 
noise  for  almost  nothing.    The  skin  of  Frenchmen  must  cost  them 
dear.   Fortunately,  we  will  soon  be  going  to  dig  them  out  of  their  holes. 
I  do  not  think  it  will  be  long  before  we  attack.   There  are  certain  signs 
about  which  I  cannot  be  deceived,  and  on  that  day  I  hope  we  will  know 
what  to  do;  whether  the  wooden  cross  or  the  cross  of  war  little  im- 
ports for  me. 

2597 — When  you  receive  this  postcard  the  400  or  500  kilometers  which 
separate  me  from  my  village  will  be  greatly  augmented. 

2396-B — I  am  giving  you  somewhat  late  of  my  news.  This  does  not  mean 
that  I  am  forgetting  the  Ouvroir  Holophane  and  the  kind  Manageress 
that  you  are  In  truth,  it  is  better  to  tell  you  that  to-day  I  am  almost 
cured  and  that  I  will  make  frequent  visits  to  156  Boulevard  Hauss- 
mann,  which  is  better  than  giving  you  sad  news  from  the  hospital;  for 
amongst  the  wounded  in  our  halls  of  suffering  some  like  me  have 
the  joy  of  resuming  life  full  of  strength  and  health,  how  many  may 
read  on  the  front  of  the  hospital  the  description  of  Dante  at  the  en- 
trance of  hell,  "You  who  enter  here  give  up  all  hope"?  Anyhow,  in  a 
few  days  I  am  going  to  leave  for  the  unknown.  I  think  I  will  ask  to 
be  allowed  to  join  the  regiment  for  Servia.  I  fought  for  Belgium  and 
at  the  same  time  for  our  France.  I  will  also  fight  for  that  poor  little 
country  as  well  as  our  own.  May  Providence  grant  that  I  will  write 
you  for  a  long  while  to  come,  until  the  victory.  Madame,  may  my  sin- 
cere good  wishes  find  you  in  your  beautiful  country,  in  that  America 
which  has  done  so  much  for  our  nation.  I  beg,  Madame,  that  you  will 
accept  the  respectful  souvenir  of  your  soldier. 


43 


2385 — Through  a  letter  written  by  my  brother  I  learn  that  owing  to 
Madame  M.  you  have  made  a  present  to  my  little  girl  of  some  toys  and 
candies.  I  thank  you  and  am  touched  by  your  kindness,  and  hope 
some  day  to  be  able  to  thank  you  in  person.  I  see  you  are  skeptical 
about  the  life  we  are  leading.  I  say  "we"  for  in  the  clan  of  our  regi- 
ment I  am  not  the  only  one  who  does  not  give  a  hang.  I  only  regret 
one  thing,  and  that  is  that  civilians  are  not  allowed  in  the  trenches. 
You  would  see  that  this  not  caring  a  hang  is  not  a  myth  with  us.  It  is 
true  that  some  of  our  poilus  think  a  little  too  much  of  their  homes, 
even  I  was  blue  for  eight  days  for  this  reason.  I  was  foolish  enough  to 
mention  it  to  my  home,  who  promptly  put  me  back  in  my  right  mind. 
What  you  say  is  exactly  true,  and  like  Figaro,  is  to  hurry  to  laugh  so  as 
not  to  cry.  I  did  once  cry  in  Rheims,  but  not  on  account  of  the  cathe- 
dral, although  it  enraged  me.  I  know  it  is  beautiful  and  the  artists 
give  way  to  tears,  but  it  was  because  I  had  my  feet  frostbitten  be- 
cause of  the  cold.  You  will  excuse  me  for  not  having  before  in  this 
letter  asked  about  your  health.  I  like  to  think  that  you  see  everything 
rosy;  and  I  am  afraid,  Madame,  that  you  worry  more  than  many  of  us. 
The  Ouvroir  need  not  expect  any  complaint  from  me  or  from  my  fam- 
ily for  that  matter.   I  will  arrange  that  everything  shall  be  for  the  best. 

2383 —  I  received  your  kind  letter.  Impossible  for  the  moment  to  answer 
your  letter.  Thanks  in  the  name  of  my  little  girl.  When  I  can,  I 
will  send  you  a  letter  unless    .    .  . 

2384 —  For  the  moment  I  am  moving;  excuse,  the  shortness  of  this  post- 
card.  I  am  not  allowed  to  write  more  in  detail. 

2498 — I  am  400  kilometers  from  my  home.  Greetings. 

2593 —  You  will  be  surprised  to  receive  a  letter  from  me.  You  have  been 
saying  to  yourself  that  I  do  not  think  any  more  of  you.  I  have  not 
forgotten  you  at  all.  Only  fatigue  has  had  a  lot  to  do  with  it,  and  when 
I  arrive  at  an  encampment  I  only  ask  one  thing — to  rest.  Since  the 
12th  I  am  like  a  vulgar  shirker  at  Toulouse,  more  than  500  kilometers 
from  the  front;  but  don't  be  afraid,  I  won't  stay  here  long.  I  expect 
to  leave  for  Salonika  and  from  there  into  Servia.  I  say  I  hope,  for 
having  been  shot  in  the  left  shoulder,  I  do  not  know  whether  I  will 
be  able  to  leave  with  my  comrades.  Aside  from  that,  all  goes  well.  I 
hope,  dear  Madame,  that  you  are  in  good  health,  and  also  all  the  ladies 
of  the  Ouvroir.  I  am  sending  a  journal  of  the  trenches  which  I  think 
will  amuse  you. 

2594 —  Keep  on  imagining  right  along;  that  is  the  best  thing  you  can  do 
about  the  situation.  When  I  arrived  here  it  was  Salonika  which  was 
to  have  the  honor  to  receive  my  regiment.  We  were  to  have  left  on  the 
19th  and  it  was  put  off  until  the  23rd.  Everybody  says  we  are  off  to- 
night. I  am  willing,  but  I  am  afraid  that  to-morrow  morning  we  will 
be  in  the  same  place.  Through  a  letter  from  my  brother  I  learned  that 
you  have  been  giving  presents  to  my  little  girl;  also  I  thank  you  and 
all  the  ladies.  I  hope  some  day,  and  I  feel  certain  of  it,  to  go  and 
thank  you  in  person  for  all  your  kindness.   As  for  the  little  girl,  I  will 

see  her  when  I  come  back  from  Serbia  or  .   I  thank  you  for  your 

congratulations,  but  why  encourage  me?  If  you  only  knew  what  a 
fatalist  I  am.  It  is  perhaps  the  approaching  contact  with  the  Turks 
that  has  this  effect.    I  just  go  ahead  and  let  destiny  accomplish  itself. 


44 


2597-B — Seated  in  my  apartment  (in  Servia)  I  am  writing  you  a  few 
lines.  I  did  not  receive  your  card  asking  me  if  I  wanted  anything.  The 
country  in  which  I  am  is  a  regular  Sahara,  only  a  desert  with  all  sorts  ot 
toboggans,  rapid  descents  and  fatiguing  climbs.  We  had  a  good  pas- 
sage, better  than  the  food,  which  was  not  wonderful.  After  passing 
two  days  resting  in  a  town  four  kilometers  from  Salonika,  then  with 
our  knapsacks  on  our  back  we  boarded  the  train.  It  is  unfortunate  that 
there  are  no  wine  merchants  in  this  country  of  misfortune.   One  might 

have  refreshed  himself  on  the  way.    We  got  out  at  K  ,  consisting 

of  three  houses  built  of  mud  and  straw.  Rivers  were  without  water, 
and  not  a  tree;  a  civilian  every  20  kilometers,  and  a  water  civilian 
looks  just  like  a  pirate.  On  the  16th  we  were  in  touch  with  the  Bul- 
gars  and  since,  the  game  goes  on.  They  are  less  turbulent  than  the 
Germans  and  especially  less  courageous.  Nearly  always  on  the  march, 
and  the  hardest  part  is  the  question  of  keeping  in  food  which  never  ar- 
rives, and  this  in  a  temperature  five  or  six  degrees  below  zero.  We 
eat  frozen.  At  night  we  get  out  of  our  holes  to  run  about  when  our 
feet  are  frozen,  and  then  lie  down  again  until  morning,  and  then  we 
go  off  to  do  some  more  tramping.  Around  here  the  country  is  ruined  by 
the  war.  It  will  be  difficult  for  me  to  get  used  to  these  mountains.  I 
have  need  of  nothing  for  the  moment.  What  we  are  most  deprived  of 
here  is  tobacco;  cigarettes  and  tobacco  are  unfindable  in  this  country; 
for  this  reason  if  you  could  send  me  some.  It  may  never  arrive,  be- 
cause I  have  already  asked  for  some  and  I  have  never  received  any.  As 
for  my  shoulder  it  is  entirely  healed. 

2557 — I  have  just  learned  that  you  had  left  for  America.  I  hope  that 
my  letter  will  find  you  in  good  health.  As  for  me,  I  am  about  to  leave 
for  the  front  for  the  third,  time.  I  am  waiting  until  there  is  an  expedi- 
tion to  go  as  volunteer.  It  is  not  a  courage  that  is  wanting,  for  I  must 
revenge  my  comrades  who  have  fallen  at  the  hands  of  these  barbar- 
ians. You  can  show  my  letter  to  your  friends  that  it  is  a  young  French- 
man of  the  class  of  1914  who  writes  this  way.  People  must  not  imagine 
that  France  is  beaten,  not  yet,  nor  is  Servia.  We  will  fly  to  her  rescue 
for  I  think  that  those  who  are  most  sick  of  the  war  are  not  the  French- 
men. We  have  plenty  of  courage  and  comrades  left  to  march  until 
we  obtain  victory.     Your  Godson,  A.  C. 

2867 — I  wish  to  answer  your  kind  letter  which  I  received,  also  the  little 
package,  for  which  I  was  very  happy.  You  ask  me  for  news  of  my 
home.  I  am  from  Boulzicourt.  My  poor  village  has  been  invaded  by 
the  Germans,  also  the  whole  department,  and  it  is  now  16  months  that 
I  have  been  at  the  front  without  news  of  my  wife  and  little  daughters, 
one  of  whom  is  eight  years  old.  It  is  hard  for  a  father  to  be  without 
news  so  long.  I  am  without  any  resources  and  now  the  winter  is  on 
for  a  second  time  and  we  are  going  to  pass  it  on  the  front.  In  the 
trenches  where  we  are  it  is  very  cold  and  they  are  full  of  rats  and  fleas, 
but  we  are  not  afraid  of  the  Germans.  I  take  courage  and  hope  that 
soon  I  will  be  able  to  see  my  wife  and  little  girls  again.  If  I  had  known 
you  earlier  I  would  have  written  you  last  winter  when  I  was  very  cold 
and  had  my  feet  frostbitten.  Thank  you  very  much  ineed  for  what 
you  have  sent.  I  am  very  grateful.  Receive,  dear  Madame,  a  good 
handshake  from  the  trenches  200  meters  from  the  Germans  and  a  thou- 
sand times  thanks  for  your  kindness;  a  "poilu"  from  the  Ardennes  who 
will  never  be  conquered  but  is  ready  to  die.  P.  P. 


45 


An  old  soldier  who  has  al- 
ready been  in  25  campaigns  in 
Algeria  and  the  colonies  before 
the  present  war,  went  to  the 
front  the  6th  of  August,  1914, 
distinguished  himself  in  the  bat- 
tles of  January,  1915,  courageous 
and  full  of  valor,  always  ready 
for  the  most  perilous  and  dim- 
cult  missions,  was  mentioned  at 
the  battle  of  the  26th  of  May, 
1915,  where  he  was  severely 
wounded  in  leading  the  assault, 
one  of  the  first,  carrying  his  com- 
rades along  by  his  fine  example, 
thanks  for  the  generous  givers — 
he  who  would  find  to  the  last 
drop  of  blood  for  the  just  cause. 

C.  D. 

2972 — Just  received  your  letter 
which  has  just  come  from  the 
front.  I  have  been  evacuated, 
because  I  received  a  ball  in  my 
left  leg  and  am  going  to  the  hos- 
pital to  have  the  ball  taken  out. 
I  was  wounded  at  Forge  while 
carrying  a  wounded  man.  The 
letter  you  sent  me  gave  me  much 
pleasure  to  know  that  Madame 
M.  was  anxious  about  my  health. 
It  is  only  my  leg  that  hurts.  It 
is  to  be  hoped  that  it  will  prove 
nothing  after  the  operation.  You 
ask  me  if  I  need  anything.  I 
have  need  especially  of  warm 
clothing,  as  I  am  not  warm  in  our  camp  barracks.  I  thank  you  for 
your  kindness  and  await  your  kind  answer,  especially  you  will  tell 
Madame  M.  that  I  wish  her  a  good  voyage  and  that  nothing  may  happen 
to  her,  and  I  will  be  happy  if  you  wrote  me  a  little,  as  I  am  doing  noth- 
ing and  it  would  distract  me.  J.  M. 

2373 — The  enemy  has  not  left  me  the  time  to  write  to  Madame  R.  A 
210-mm.  shell  fell  in  my  section,  there  in  the  ravines  of  S.  I  was 
picked  up  in  a  pool  of  blood.  And  now  I  am  tied  to  a  hospital  bed, 
with  two  severe  wounds  in  the  right  hip  and  the  left  arm.  But  I  saw 
the  hated  enemy  fly.  And  from  my  stretcher,  which  was  pursued  for 
three  kilometers  by  machine-gun  fire,  I  was  the  spectator  of  a  proud 
victory. 

Now  a  great  grief  associates  itself  with  this  lovely  memory.  The 
doctors  declare  that  my  treatment  will  last  a  long  time — six  months, 
perhaps — and  I  shall  not  be  able  to  take  up  my  post  of  honor  again. 
With  all  the  strength  of  my  soul  I  pray  that  science  is  mistaken,  so  that 
I  may  be  better  in  two  or  three  months  and  may  then  be  able  to  rejoin 
my  superb  heroes.  Ah,  Madame,  our  soldiers  are  supermen.  A  golden 
temple  should  be  raised  in  their  honor.  Those  who  have  fallen  are,  in 
my  estimation,  as  lovely  as  martyrs. 


46 


2869 — It  is  with  pleasure  that  I  give  you  some  news  of  my  home  in  the 
Ardennes.  Born  at  Sapogne-Faucheres,  I  had  never  left  my  district 
and  often  since  the  age  of  nine  I  was  brought  up  by  neighbors  who 
taught  me  farming.  At  the  beginning  of  the  war  only  my  grandparents 
were  left,  who  were  aged  eighty-nine  years,  and  my  wife,  but  as  the 
poor  old  people  could  not  leave  the  country,  they  and  my  wife  are  with 
the  Germans  for  the  past  fifteen  months.  I  am  without  any  news.  You 
can  see,  Madame,  that  if  I  addressed  myself  to  you,  it  was  on  account  of 
my  need. 

2894 — I  would  be  very  happy  if  you  would  have  the  kindness  to  send  me 
some  news  of  my  district,  the  town  of  Roubaix.  Such  would  give  me 
great  pleasure,  as  since  October  3,  1914,  I  have  not  received  any  news 
from  home.  J.  B.  L. 

2901 — I  have  just  received  your  letter  which  tells  me  that  you  received 
the  ring  and  the  heart  which  I  sent  you  and  that  it  gave  you  much 
pleasure  and  also,  Madame,  the  Manageress.  Here  we  are  in  a  some- 
what quiet  section.  We  are  in  the  middle  of  a  wood  where  we  live  in 
a  hole  dug  in  the  earth,  waiting  for  the  hour  when  we  will  leave  for 
the  front.  Unfortunately,  winter  is  interfering  with  operations  and  I 
do  not  think  that  much  will  be  done  before  spring.  The  hardest  of  all 
is  not  to  receive  news  from  one's  parents.  G.  D. 

2903 —  I  am  writing  you  a  few  lines  to  let  you  know  that  I  am  in  good 
health  and  hope  my  letter  will  find  you  the  same.  I  wish  to  say  that 
I  received  the  package  and  that  it  gave  me  great  pleasure,  especially 
as  I  am  in  a  part  of  the  country  where  it  is  very  cold.  I  pray  God  every 
day  that  we  may  be  able  to  return  to  our  families.  I  wish  to  tell  you 
that  there  is  a  rumor  that  we  may  have  a  second  leave,  and  I  am  ap- 
pealing to  you,  Madame,  to  know  if  you  are  acquainted  with  some 
charitable  person  who  would  receive  me,  who  am  an  unfortunate  from 
the  invaded  districts.  I  await,  Madame,  an  early  answer  to  my  letter, 
for  I  expect  to  leave  amongst  the  first,  as  I  have  not  left  the  front 
since  the  beginning  of  the  war.  A.  B. 

2904 —  I  beg  to  acknowledge  receipt  of  your  letter  of  the  20th  and 
thank  you  for  having  sent  me  a  sweater.  It  has  not  yet  arrived,  but 
will  no  doubt  shortly,  and  in  this  bad  weather  will  be  most  useful. 
The  sleeping  bag  renders  me  the  greatest  service.  It  is  a  most  precious 
article  and  I  do  not  know  how  to  thank  you  for  all  that  you  have  dons 
for  me.  It  is  hoped  that  good  weather  will  come  back,  though  we  are 
badly  off  in  the  mud  and  a  little  sun  would  do  us  good.  It  is  true  that 
we  are  hardened  to  all  sorts  of  weather.  S.  B. 

2924 — I  am  writing  you  this  postcard  to  ask  you  why  you  have  not 
answered  me.   I  am  awaiting  your  answer  S.V.P.,  Madame. 
(S.  V.  P.  is  French  abbreviation  for  "if  you  please.") 

2952 — It  is  with  emphasis  that  I  wish  to  thank  the  kind  givers  who  by 
their  gifts  of  warm  clothing  prevent  me  from  suffering  from  the  cold 
and  also  to  realize  the  great  generosity  of  America.  M.  R. 

2954 — I  am  sending  you  my  greetings  from  the  trenches  to  tell  you 
that  the  weather  is  very  bad  and  that  it  is  always  with  courage  that  we 
march  to  defend  our  dear  France.  I  am  sending  you  my  affectionate 
greetings.  L.  L. 


47 


3127 —  As  the  new  year  is  here,  I  come  to  offer  my  prayers  and  wishes 
for  happiness  to  you  and  at  the  same  time  thank  you  for  the  package 
you  gave  me  last  July.   Thank  you  for  all  your  kindness.  J.  C. 

3128 —  Just  a  few  words  to  send  you  my  best  wishes  for  the  new  year 
which  is  coming  and  hope  that  it  will  bring  us  peace.  We  are  very  un- 
comfortable, for  we  have  a  terrible  district,  so  dirty.  We  have  mud  up 
to  our  knees  and  one  has  to  stay  in  it  eight  days  at  a  time.  It  is  very 
cold,  especially  as  I  only  have  a  shirt  and  coat  on  me.  Since  we  arrived 
in  this  district,  it  has  not  stopped  raining  or  snowing.  While  awaiting 
news  from  you,  please  receive,  Madame,  my  friendly  greetings.    J.  P. 

3129 —  I  am  very  happy  to  send  you  news  of  myself.  I  continue  to  be 
in  very  good  health  and  I  hope  that  you,  Madame,  are  the  same.  I  am 
taking  advantage  of  the  fine  day  to  send  you  my  best  wishes  for  a  Happy 
New  Year  and  to  wish  you  good  health,  and  I  beg  that  you  will  convey 
the  same  to  the  other  ladies.  I  end  this  short  letter  by  sending  you  my 
best  compliments  and  assuring  you  of  my  deepest  respect.  C.  B. 

3131 —  Please  receive  from  a  soldier  the  best  wishes  for  a  good  and 
Happy  New  Year,  which  I  send  from  the  bottom  of  my  heart  for  your 
happiness.  G.  S. 

3132 —  On  the  occasion  of  the  new  year  I  hasten  to  send  you  my  best 
wishes  for  a  happy  new  year  for  peace  and  for  happiness.  I  also  wish 
to  thank  you  for  all  the  kindness  you  have  shown  to  my  children. 

G.  E. 

3133 —  Permit  me  to  send  to  you  and  also  to  all  the  kind  people  who  are 
devoting  themselves  to  helping  our  poor  soldiers  from  the  invaded  dis- 
tricts my  best  wishes  for  a  good  and  Happy  New  Year,  and  especially 
for  good  health  and  a  long  life  of  happiness,  also  for  a  victorious  peace 
which  will  render  France  and  the  Allies  nobler.  Let  me  thank  you 
again  for  your  fine  sweater  which  you  gave  me  when  I  came  to  you  to 
pay  my  little  visit  on  my  leave.  Thanks  also  for  the  warm  pair  of  socks 
and  the  gloves.  During  these  cold  days  I  have  been  warm.  Indeed,  my 
kind  benefactress,  I  thank  you  very  much,  for  in  these  moments  we  do 
not  know  what  has  become  of  our  wives  and  children,  and  it  is  very  com- 
forting to  receive  these  things  which  are  so  necessary.  Whilst  awaiting 
happier  days,  please  receive,  kind  ladies,  my  sincerest  salutations. 

D.  M. 

3121 — Having  received  the  package  which  you  gave  my  wife  to  send  me 
with  the  shirt  and  the  pair  of  socks,  I  send  you  my  best  thanks,  for 
at  this  moment  one  is  very  happy  to  have  warm  underclothing  and  it 
shows  a  great  kindness  of  soul  on  your  part  to  come  to  the  help  of  poor 
soldiers  who  are  unfortunately  separated  from  their  families  in  these 
sad  times.  It  makes  us  happy  to  know  therje  are  kind  people  who  try  to 
soften  a  little  the  hard  roads  we  are  travelling  in  our  present  lives. 

L.  P. 

3123 —  I  am  taking  the  liberty  of  writing  you  these  lines  to  thank  you 
for  the  comfort  I  got  from  you  during  my  short  stay  and  I  think  that 
if  I  obtain  another  leave  I  will  not  try  to  go  anywhere  else,  for  you 
know  our  iife  is  just  at  present  a  very  hard  one.  E.  L. 

3124 —  It  is  as  a  pleasure  and  duty  on  arriving  at  my  depot  to  write 
and  thank  you  for  your  nice  gift  of  underclothing  which  you  gave  me 
during  my  short  leave.  With  this  letter  go  my  best  wishes  for  your 
health  and  for  a  Happy  New  Year.  E.  A. 


48 


3125 — It  is  with  great  pleasure  and  a  lively  joy  that  I  have  just  re- 
ceived your  good  and  useful  package  of  warm  woolen  underclothes  and 
other  small  comforts  which  accompanied  them.  I  thank  you  with  all 
my  heart,  for  one  is  indeed  happy  and  contented  to  feel  that  one  is 
not  forgotten  in  these  unhappy  days  of  sorrow  and  especially  for  us 
from  the  Ardennes  who  have  had  no  news  from  our  families,  who  have 
stayed  under  the  domination  of  the  Germans.  We  have  never  received 
the  least  word  of  comfort  from  our  parents  and  one  is  most  happy  when 
a  work  as  fine  as  yours  tries  to  render  our  life  less  hard  for  us  poor 
orphans  of  the  war,  for  that  gives  us  courage  and  we  have  need  of  this 
to  help  us  finish  victoriously  the  war  in  order  to  protect  the  lives  of  the 
old  and  feeble  in  our  dear  France.  I  would  like  to  tell  you  my  life  since 
the  beginning  of  the  war,  but  it  would  be  too  long  and  it  might  make 
you  too  sad,  which  must  not  be,  for  we  all  know  that  victory  lies  in 
these  words — "courage  and  patience."  Now,  my  dear  lady,  I  end  by 
wishing  you  and  those  who  are  co-operating  with  you  in  your  fine  work, 
all  my  respects  and  my  deepest  affection,  and  a  long  life  in  order  that 
your  hearts  may  continue  to  alleviate  and  comfort  the  unfortunate 
children  without  families,  from  the  invaded  countries.  To  all  your 
associates  my  best  thanks  and  I  wish  you  all  good  health.  From  far 
off  in  Alsace,  I  bid  you  good-bye.  L.  N. 

3110 — By  this  postcard  I  send  you  my  greetings  and  my  thanks  for  the 
little  package  which  you  had  the  kindness  to  give  me  during  my  leave 
lately  passed  in  Paris,  and  as  you  told  me  in  case  I  needed  certain 
things,  to  write,  I  am  asking  you  a  service,  that  is,  that  I  may  have  a 
scarf.  You  would  render  me  a  great  service  in  giving  me  one,  for  it  is 
very  cold,  and  also  a  little  chocolate  and  a  sweater.  A.  C. 

3016 — Now  with  the  new  year  coming  I  do  not  wish  to  let  it  pass  with- 
out having  sent  you  my  wishes  for  happiness  and  prosperity.  I  thank 
you  for  your  generous  gifts,  which  are  always  most  welcome,  and  that 
you  can  count  on  us  for  having  a  successful  end  of  this  war.  Yes,  count 
on  us  getting  the  better  of  our  enemies.  L.  S. 

3003 —  Once  more  back  with  my  regiment,  I  wish  to  thank  you  for  your 
generosity  and  whether  my  life  be  short  or  long,  I  shall  remember  the 
service  you  rendered  to  me.  Whilst  awaiting  my  departure  to  the 
trenches  I  wish,  Madame,  the  Presidentess  and  the  ladies  a  joyful 
Christmas  in  return  for  the  services  you  are  rendering  to  the  soldiers 
of  the  invaded  districts.  I  beg  you,  Madame,  to  accept  my  wishes  for  a 
Good  and  Happy  New  Year  for  you  and  for  all  the  ladies  who  are  so 
devoted  to  us.  J.  S. 

3004 —  I  thank  you  very  sincerely  for  the  delightful  postcard  that  you 
sent  me  and  you  may  be  certain  that  I  will  keep  you  in  mind  as  a 
precious  souvenir.  I  wish  to  say  that  so  far  it  has  been  impossible  to 
leave  because  of  supplies,  but  now  I  am  certain  to  leave  with  the  first 
reinforcements.  It  is  always  with  courage  and  hope  that  I  await  this 
reinforcement  in  order  to  leave  the  third  time  to  do  my  duty,  whether 
in  France  or  elsewhere.  1  hope  that  when  I  am  in  the  trenches  you  will 
have  returned,  and  from  time  to  time  I  will  write  to  the  Ouvroir  Holo- 
plane,  and  that  you  will  give  me  your  news,  for  your  postcards  give  me 
much  pleasure  and  it  will  be  with  joy  that  I  learn  of  your  return.  You 
are  quite  right  to  try  to  find  money  for  our  dear  France  and  her  de- 
fenders, for  everywhere  in  America  as  elsewhere  they  will  soon  see  that 
we  are  going  to  be  the  conquerors.  A.  C. 


49 


1961 — I  wish  to  confirm  by  this 
letter  the  little  interview,  I  had 
the  honor  of  having  with  you 
during  my  visit  to  Paris. 

I  can  assure  you  that  our 
spirits  are  excellent  in  every 
way.  One  must  live  this  life  to 
be  able  to  understand  it.  As  for 
us,  we  await  with  unlimited  con- 
fidence the  end  of  this  war,  for 
it  may  last  a  long  time  still;  we 
accept  all  with  courage  and  con- 
fidence, certain  that  we  shall 
come  out  victorious.  It  is  no 
good  talking  to  us  at  present  of 
an  "honorable  peace";  be  sure  of 
us,  we  will  not  hear  of  it.  To 
the  last  soldier,  we  will  fight  to 
the  end. 

One  thing  before  all.  I 
know  something  about  the 
spirits  of  the  men.  The  longer 
the  war  lasts,  the  more  hardened 
we  shall  be  and  the  better  our 
spirits.  I  cannot  express  myself 
in  any  other  way;  one  must  live 
amongst  us  to  understand.  We 
love  our  chiefs,  and  they  love 
us.  What  more  could  you  want? 
The  French  army  is  a  big  fam- 
ily, and  we  keep  well  in  touch 
with  one  another,  and  that  is  the 
principal  thing. 


€20 — I  have  just  received  your  letter.  I  am  very  happy  to  receive  news 
and  it  is  not  only  a  pleasure,  but  a  duty  to  answer.  I  do  not  know  by 
your  letter  if  you  have  received  mine  with  thanks  for  the  package 
which  you  sent  me  with  the  mask.  Anyhow,  thanks  again,  as  it  has 
been  most  useful.  Fortunately  we  hold  firmly,  and  he  who  laughs  last 
laughs  best.  We  suffer  a  great  deal  and  run  many  dangers,  but  we 
have  most  of  the  amusements.  We  send  them  bombs  and  hand 
grenades.  I  saw  several  of  my  comrades  fall,  which  made  me  feel  very 
badly,  tmt  I  did  not  stop,  and  I  became  more  and  more  resolved  to 
avenge  them.  I  have  become  skilled  in  throwing  hand  grenades  and 
each  time  I  succeed,  and  one  sees  arms  and  legs  flying  in  the  air.  If 
it  were  in  time  of  peace  we  would  be  punished,  but  in  war  time  we 
are  praised. 

Just  imagine,  dear  friends,  that  I  have  asked  permission  to  come 
to  Paris.  If  I  tell  you  this,  it  is  because  I  shall  profit  of  it  and  come 
and  see  you.  If  there  should  be  any  indiscretion  on  my  part  in  doing 
this,  please  have  the  kindness  to  let  me  know. 

Awaiting  your  answer,  please  receive  a  poilu's  eternal  gratitude. 


50 


0954 — F.  D.  living  at  Mazier,  in  invaded  district,  married,  father  of 
three  children,  miner,  and  without  news  of  his  family  and  without 
resources,  is  actually  a  drummer  since  the  beginning  of  the  campaign, 
has  the  honor  to  solicit  your  kindness  for  a  little  help.  F.  D. 

618 —  I  have  already  thanked  you  for  the  present  you  have  made  to  me, 
who  am  without  news  or  resources  of  my  family.  Therefore  I  wish 
you  to  know  that  they  are  most  useful  to  me,  and  the  change  of  socks 
and  the  tobacco  with  which  I  can  tease  the  Prussians  who  are  in  front 
of  me  by  puffing  up  the  smoke,  and  again  I  do  not  know  how  to  express 
myself  in  order  to  thank  you  for  your  generosity.  When  I  think  that 
I  am  fighting  to  defend  people  like  you,  it  gives  me  courage  and  I  feel 
renewed  ardor,  and  I  am  so  happy  now,  for  we  are  marching  to  victory 
which  cannot  be  put  off  much  longer.  I  wish  you  could  see  what 
courage  we  have.  All  Frenchmen  know  no  obstacles.  We  rush  to  the 
assault  singing  the  Marseillaise  without  bothering  about  the  death  that 
may  be  awaiting  us.  God  has  watched  over  me  since  the  beginning  of 
the  war.  I  am  sure  that  He  will  lead  me  up  to  the  walls  of  Berlin,  but 
we  will  always  fight  loyally.  We  will  not  act  like  the  Germans  and 
assassinate  women,  old  men  and  children.  I  would  like  to  do  the  im- 
possible, but  I  have  the  great  hope  that  our  father  Joffre  will  lead  us 
by  the  road  that  he  knows  and  when  we  are  through  with  them,  I  hope 
to  have  the  happiness  to  come  in  person,  to  thank  you  for  your  kind- 
ness. Please  believe  in  my  sincere  gratitude,  my  good  thoughts  and 
sincere  affection. 

619 —  I  have  just  received  the  lovely  package  that  you  sent  me.  It  is 
really  too  good  and  I  will  never  have  enough  gratitude  for  so  much 
kindness,  for  it  is  a  joy  to  receive  such  presents.  I  must  tell  you  that 
now  I  am  in  the  trenches  very  near  the  enemy,  and  even  though  it  is 
night,  the  Germans  can  hear  us  working  and  do  not  spare  the  bullets, 
but  so  far  I  have  received  nothing,  fortunately  for  me.  Your  mask 
will  render  me  service,  for  now  I  fear  they  will  be  sending  asphyxiat- 
ing gas  and  with  it  I  can  go  and  throw  hand  grenades  without  being 
asphyxiated.  Here  we  are  all  working  in  the  hopes  of  a  big  victory 
and  it  seems  to  me  that  it  is  coming  near.  I  do  not  think  they  will 
remain  much  longer  in  their  trenches,  if  you  only  knew  how  many 
shells  we  send  them,  and  if  we  lose  men,  I  assure  you  on  their  side  they 
lose  the  double.  If  there  has  not  yet  been  a  ball  for  me,  I  have  great 
hopes  that  there  will  not  be  one  and  that  I  will  have  the  happiness  to 
come  and  thank  you  after  the  victory,  and  then  go  to  embrace  my  fam- 
ily, who  also  must  be  suffering.  Now,  dear  Madame,  I  hope  you  will 
accept  my  most  respectful  homages  and  my  thanks  to  your  kind  heart. 


2988 — I  write  you  a  few  lines  to  say  that  I  am  in  good  health  and  hope 
this  will  find  you  the  same.  I  wish  to  thank  you  very  much  for  the 
package  you  have  sent  me,  which  gave  me  much  pleasure.  I  wish  to  say 
that  it  is  not  necessary  to  come  back  to  Paris  on  leave  to  see  the  attrac- 
tions, as  we  can  see  moving-pictures  three  kilometers  from  the  front. 
It  is  a  moving-picture  arrangement  on  wheels.  The  machine  is  mounted 
on  an  automobile  and  run  by  two  marines.  The  show  takes  place  in  a 
barn  and  it  is  as  good  a  representation  as  in  Paris,  and  we  see  the 
views  of  Pathe  Brothers.    It  is  very  fine.  F.  B. 


51 


2928 — Excuse  the  liberty  I  am  taking  in  writing  you  this  letter,  fear- 
ing that  you  have  not  received  my  first  letter  having  been  badly  ad- 
dressed in  which  I  let  you  know  that  having  been  at  the  front  since 
the  beginning  of  the  war,  I  have  learned  that  you  send  little  packages 
to  needy  soldiers.  I  wish  to  recommend  myself  to  you,  as  not  daring 
to  ask  anything  from  my  poor  wife  whom  I  have  left  with  two  children 
and  who  has  only  her  allowance  (45  cents  a  day)  given  her  by  the 
Mayor  for  food.  A.  M. 

621 — I  have  just  received  your  letter,  which  gave  me  much  pleasure.  I 
Lad  had  the  intention  of  coming  to  Paris  to  see  my  corporal,  who  is  a 
brother  to  me,  and  who  for  a  year  has  been  in  the  hospital,  but  he  has 
written  to  me  that  he  is  leaving  this  week,  in  order  to  pass  the  examina- 
tion for  being  discharged  from  the  service.  Being  in  doubt,  I  do  not 
know  what  to  do.  I  did  so  want  to  see  him  and  come  with  him  to 
thank  you  for  all  your  kindness  to  me,  but  I  am  afraid  to  arrive  in 
Paris  and  find  myself  alone,  and  not  knowing  where  to  go  to  sleep  or  to 
get  food.  It  would  have  been  easy  with  him,  because  he  said  to  come 
and  I  could  sleep  with  him  at  the  hospital.  However,  it  may  not  be 
too  late.  If  my  friend  does  not  go  for  a  few  days,  it  may  yet  be  time 
to  let  me  know,  and  I  assure  you  that  I  will  come  with  all  my  heart  to 
tell  you  personally  my  feelings.  It  would  be  a  great  pleasure  for  me 
to  make  the  acquaintance  of  your  good  Manageress  and  also,  please, 
in  my  name,  present  to  Madame  M.  my  respects. 

621-B — I  have  just  received  your  letter,  which  touched  me  very  much, 
because  of  the  interest  that  you  showed  me  and  I  shall  be  too  happy 
to  pay  you  a  visit  and  accept  the  hospitality  you  offer  me.  I  assure  you 
that  it  is  a  great  consolation  when  we  soldiers  receive  from  an  un- 
known Godmother  with  a  big  heart  the  generous  offer  to  receive  one 
and  so  I  will  do  everything  in  my  power  to  come  to  pass  a  few  days 
with  you.  I  expect  to  come  in  about  two  weeks.  I  cannot  tell  you  the 
exact  date,  because  you  know  we  are  never  notified  in  advance. 

S386 — Here  I  am,  back  again  with  my  comrades  in  arms,  very  happy  to 
see  each  other  and  generally  in  good  health,  and  in  order  to  celebrate 
ray  return,  everybody  sang.  The  Germans  answered,  but  their  songs 
are  ugly  and  one  does  not  understand  anything,  but  we  will  soon  make 
•  hem  understand  what  we  wish.  I  see  that  I  am  joking  and  your  time 
no  doubt  does  not  permit  you  to  read  long  letters,  but  know  the  good 
souvenir  that  I  have  in  having  been  so  well  received  by  you  and  those 
who  help  you.  I  will  never  be  able  to  express  all  my  gratitude.  If 
you  only  knew  how  happy  I  am  to  see  so  much  enthusiasm  and 
grandeur  of  soul  and  therefore  in  the  name  of  my  comrades  whom  you 
are  protecting,  I  say  thank  you.  Only  God  can  recompense  you.  God 
is  great,  for  He  has  made  of  you  an  angel  who  brings  to  the  heart  of 
those  who  fight,  courage  and  hope.  As  for  me,  I  do  not  give  a  rap  for 
the  name.  I  only  have  one  idea  and  that  is  to  make  a  return  to  you 
by  my  devotion  in  chasing  these  Germans  from  our  dear  country.  That 
is  the  only  proof  of  my  gratitude,  for  in  chasing  them  out,  I  am  sav- 
ing France  and  the  big  hearts  that  it  includes.  I  cannot  say  anything 
more,  for  the  order  has  just  arrived  that  we  are  to  blow  up  the  German 
trench  and  I  assure  you  it  will  be  blown  up,  or  I  will  stay  there  myself. 
I  beg  you,  benefactress,  to  receive  from  a  true  Frenchman  his  most  re- 
spectful thoughts  and  thanks,  and  please  remember  me  to  the  good 
souvenir  of  all  the  ladies. 


52 


2854 — I  am  writing  you  a  few 
words  to  say  that  I  left  the  hos- 
pital on  the  20th  to  return  as  a 
convalescent  to  my  family  for  45 
days.  I  want  to  tell  you, 
Madame,  that  I  was  very  happy 
to  find  my  little  family  well, 
especially  the  youngest  one,  who 
has  grown  and  speaks  very  well. 
Now,  Madame,  having  always 
promised  that  my  first  visit  on 
arrival  in  Paris  would  be  to  you, 
I  hastened  to  call  the  day  before 
yesterday.  I  went  to  the 
Ouvroir.  I  saw  the  ladies  there 
who  received  me  warmly  and 
with  kindness,  but  I  had  the  dis- 
agreeable surprise  not  to  find 
you.  However,  that  will  be  for 
some  time  later.  That  is  why, 
Madame,  I  hasten  to  write  you 
to  tell  you  that  my  health  is  good 
and  also  that  all  my  children  and 
wife  are  well,  and  that  later  I 
may  have  the  happiness  to  see  you  and  to  thank  you  in  person.  (Had 
been  seriously  wounded  and  not  expected  to  recover.)  H.  L. 

3005 — On  the  line  of  fire.  Excuse  me  if  I  have  delayed  in  giving  you 
news  of  myself  to  thank  you  for  what  you  have  done  for  me.  I  always 
receive  news  of  my  Godfather  and  Godmother,  and  they  take  good  care 
of  me  and  I  am  very  happy  to  have  them  to  comfort  me.  As  for  me,  I 
continue  in  the  trenches  and  my  health  is  of  the  best.  Unfortunately, 
the  cold  weather  is  not  good  for  my  wounds  and  they  make  me  suffer 
very  much.  We  paddle  around  in  mud  and  are  covered  with  it  from 
head  to  foot.  However,  it  cannot  be  helped.  It  must  be,  and  it  is  only 
with  patience  and  courage  that  we  will  manage  to  conquer  these  Ger- 
mans. Since  I  last  wrote  you  a  new  misfortune  has  happened  to  me, 
for  in  the  third  attack  of  October  30th,  my  brother  was  made  a  prisoner. 
He  has  let  me  know  that  he  was  in  Germany  and  had  no  bread.  It  is 
sad  to  learn  such  things.  E.  L. 

3017 — On  the  occasion  of  the  new  year,  permit  me  to  send  you  my  best 
greetings  and  good  wishes.  The  most  beautiful  flowers  I  could  send 
you  are  on  this  postcard,  that  is  to  say,  the  emblem  of  the  Allies'  flags. 
We  are  hopeful  that  we  will  come  out  conquerors  in  this  war  in  the 
year  1916.   An  old  poilu  who  is  filled  with  gratitude  toward  you.   J.  j; 

3021 — It  is  long  since  I  received  any  news  from  you.  I  would  like  to 
know  if  you  have  come  back.  Therefore  send  me  some  news  at  once. 
I  have  changed  my  regiment  and  am  very  pleased,  for  I  am  on  a  regi- 
ment that  is  about  to  leave  soon  with  courage -and  hope,  and  I  leave 
with  pleasure  at  being  able  to  again  be  useful.  I  continue  in  good 
health,  but  life  in  the  depot  is  not  amusing.  Let  me  know  if  you  have 
come  back,  for  it  is  winter  now  and  I  will  need  some  underclothing.  I 
am  always  without  news  of  my  sister.  I  hope  this  letter  will  find  you 
in  good  health.  A.  C. 


53 


■2775 — Excuse  me  for  the  last  time  I  did  not  write  you  in  my  own  hand- 
writing. I  will  tell  you  the  reason.  For  several  weeks  we  have  been 
at  the  front  and  we  do  not  cease  working.  I  am  a  pioneer,  that  is  to 
say,  I  have  to  fasten  up  barbed  wire  in  front  of  conquered  trenches. 
This  work  is  of  course  done  at  night  and  so  my  hands  were  cut  up  a 
little  all  over,  so  that  I  could  not  hold  anything  in  my  hand,  and  I  did 
not  wish  to  leave  the  front  in  order  to  be  cared  for,  for  while  I  was 
working,  the  Germans  bombarded  us  and  wounded  several  of  my  com- 
rades and  as  I  knew  that  we  were  to  be  attacked,  I  wished  to  partici- 
pate, if  only  to  avenge  those  who  had  fallen.  I  assure  you  that  I  did 
not  spare  my  hand  grenades,  which  did  not  advance  my  healing,  and 
that  is  why  I  had  a  comrade  write  you.  Now  that  I  am  all  right,  I  can 
write  you  and  I  do  it  with  pleasure.  I  do  not  know  when  we  will  be 
relieved,  for  now  it  is  six  weeks  that  we  have  been  in  the  first  line.  I 
am  here  in  a  comfortable  hole  like  a  rat,  but  sheltered  from  their  shells. 
However,  now,  dear  Madame,  winter  is  coming  and  I  assure  you  that  I 
am  beginning  to  feel  the  cold,  for  I  have  not  good  socks  and  my  feet 
soon  get  cold.  It  is  some  consolation  to  know  that  my  comrades  are 
like  me,  without  family,  and  bear  courageously  their  lot.  If  you  could 
come  to  my  help,  I  would  be  very  grateful,  although  I  hope  you  do  not 
doubt  of  my  gratitude  for  all  the  gifts  that  you  have  so  generously 
made  me. 

3022 — I  have  just  received  your  package  and  I  thank  you  very  much  as 
I  have  received  no  news  from  my  home.  I  thank  you  a  thousand  times 
and  I  will  tell  you  it  is  very  sad  to  have  no  news  of  my  wife  and  chil- 
dren, or  of  my  father  and  mother.  I  am  well  and  I  hope  this  postcard 
will  find  you  the  same.  P.  H. 

2835 — I  hasten  to  answer  your  good  letter.  So  glad  you  received  my 
last  letter.  I  am  delighted  and  proud  at  the  same  time  of  the  good 
opinion  you  have  of  me.  I  do  not  deserve  such  praise,  for  I  am  only 
doing  what  all  good  Frenchmen  do — their  duty;  but  if  I  come  out  of 
it,  it  is  because  God  does  not  want  me,  and  I  thank  Him;  but  after  all, 
I  want  to  see  those  I  left  again,  but  I  continue  to  talk  and  I  see  that 
time  is  passing  and  night  is  coming.  We  must  prepare  to  blow  up  our 
mine,  before  the  Germans  blow  up  theirs,  for  we  have  heard  them,  knock- 
ing and  while  I  am  resting  a  little,  my  comrades  are  digging  hard.  If  we 
succeed  in  this  one,  the  Germans  will  have  a  bad  turn.  It  is  a  pleas- 
ure to  blow  them  up.  We  are  now  fifty  days  in  the  same  place.  I  do 
not  know  when  we  will  be  relieved.  As  far  as  I  am  concerned,  if  it 
was  not  for  the  cold  that  is  coming  I  do  not  complain,  and  everybody 
has  not  the  chance  to  live  under  the  skies  and  to  be  in  a  perpetual  state 
of  celebration,  for  we  have  fireworks  without  limit.  When  we  give  a 
concert  the  Germans  are  not  admitted.  They  only  have  the  right  to 
dance  to  the  tune  of  our  75's.  If  I  joke,  it  is  because  my  character  is 
rather  gay,  and  one  soon  finishes  by  ceasing  to  be  careful.  It  is  a 
TQatter  of  habit.  You  asked  me,  dear  Madame,  if  I  have  a  vest.  That 
would  be  welcome  and  if  by  chance  you  have  some  good  woolen  socks, 
for  I  suffer  very  much  in  my  feet,  and  I  fear  lest  they  be  frostbitten. 
I  am  more  afraid  of  that  than  the  enemy,  for  I  would  be  forced  to 
leave  the  front  and  say  good-bye  to  my  comrades.  Please  send  all  my 
news  to  kind  Madame  M.  and  tell  her  how  great  is  my  gratitude,  also 
to  all  your  good  folks,  and  receive  my  respectful  thoughts. 


54 


2863 — Forgive  me  for  not  sending  you  a  card  for  St.  Catharine.  I 
was  out  too  late.    I  am  always  waiting  at  the  depot  to  be  sent  to  the 
front  again,  but  it  does  not  come  quickly.   I  shake  your  hand  cordially. 
Your  Godson  who  thinks  of  you,  A.  C. 

3024 — I  am  answering  your  letter  which  I  have  just  received  which  gave 
me  great  pleasure  to  know  that  you  are  in  good  health.  As  for  me,  I 
am  very  well,  excepting  that  the  weather  is  very  bad.  There  is  snow 
and  rain,  and  it  is  very  hard  for  us  at  this  moment,  for  we  are  always 
wet  to  our  bones.  You  ask  me  what  would  please  me  the  most.  Well, 
it  is  a  pair  of  wooden  sabots  or  galoshes,  for  it  is  principally  in  the 
feet  that  one  is  cold.  I  would  like  also  a  pair  of  socks;  if  you  could, 
T>ut  in  some  sweets,  for  it  is  New  Year's  Day,  you  see,  and  we  are  little 
chaps.    I  hope  you  will  not  be  angry  for  what  I  am  asking.       L.  B. 

1362 — Here  I  am  at  the  front.  We  are  having  terrible  rain.  Nothing 
seems  to  be  changed.  Always  the  sound  of  cannon  around  us.  I  am 
going  to  ask  my  comrades,  the  most  unhappy  ones,  to  write  you,  so 
that  you  in  your  generosity  can  help  them  as  you  have  helped  me. 
IVIyself  as  well  as  Madame  G.,  my  wife,  and  our  children — we  will  always 
remain  intimate  friends  towards  you,  for  your  kind  heart  and  thank 
you  infinitely  as  well  as  Mademoiselle  Julie.  I  beg  you  to  give  her 
greeting  for  me  and  to  thank  her,  too.  There  is  nothing  very  interest- 
ing in  the  trenches  just  at  present. 

Good-bye,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  M.  F.  G. 

Who  thinks  of  you  at  the  same  time  that  he  thinks  of  his  little 
family,  and  who  has  the  kindest  recollections  of  you. 

2378 — I  write  you  these  few  lines  to  let  you  know  that  I  come  out  of 
the  hospital  Monday.  Then  I  go  to  the  depot  to  get  my  permission  and 
you  can  expect  me  from  Monday  at  the  station,  for  I  know  nothing  of 
Paris,  therefore  dear  Madame,  so  that  you  will  know  me  I  am  going  to 
tell  you  how  I  am.  I  am  dressed  in  a  gray  uniform,  gray  coat  with 
two  black  braids  and  black  braids  on  my  trousers,  a  blue  knapsack  on 
my  back.  I  am  young,  I  have  no  mustache  and  rather  pale  complexion. 
There  is  nothing  exciting  to  tell  you  about,  but  I  send  you  my  kind 
regards.  A.  L. 

2420 — I  am  always  at  the  depot,  which  does  not  please  me.  It  is  not 
that  one  is  not  comfortable,  but  I  would  much  rather  be  at  the  front 
fighting.  If  you  can  send  me  a  pocket-knife,  a  pair  of  socks  and  a 
pocket-handkerchief,  I  would  be  very  grateful.  As  soon  as  I  receive 
this  little  parcel  I  hope  to  start  at  once  for  the  front.  I  send  you  my 
affectionate  regards.  A.  C. 

2394 — As  you  desire  that  I  call  you  by  this  name,  it  makes  me  very 
happy.  I  thank  you  with  all  my  heart  for  what  you  have  sent  me.  I 
l:ave  not  received  the  package  yet,  but  I  am  awaiting  it  with  the  great- 
est impatience;  hope  it  will  arrive  soon.  I  am  sorry  that  Miss  L.  could 
not  write  to  me  and  I  hope  that  you  will  not  put  me  aside,  and  that 
you  will  write  to  me  some.  So  happy  that  you  are  going  to  send 
me  some  books  and  I  thank  you,  Madame  M.,  for  your  devotion  and 
your  permission  to  call  you  dear  Godmother.  It  is  such  a  comfort.  I 
thank  you  equally  for  your  efforts  to  get  me  news  of  my  dear  wife.  I 
only  hope  you  will  succeed.  I  await  impatiently  a  letter  from  you. 
Please  receive,  d«ar  Godmother,  all  my  friendship.  G.  L. 


55 


3023 — It  gives  me  pleasure  to  let  you  know  that  I  lately  received  a  good 
letter  from  my  wife  with  a  photograph  of  my  dear  Suzanne.  Both  are 
in  good  health,  also  all  my  family.  Her  letter  came  through  Holland. 
I  am  very  happy  to  receive  such  comforting  news.  I  am  still  at  my 
depot  and  as  well  as  possible.  I  expect  to  leave  soon  for  the  trenches 
and  hope  again  to  come  out  all  right,  and  for  an  early  victory.    H.  B. 

2855 — Please  excuse  me  if  for  some  time  I  have  not  sent  you  any  news, 
which,  however,  are  very  good,  and  I  hope  that  you  continue  well,  not- 
withstanding the  fatigue  that  our  soldiers  must  give  you.  On  my 
side,  I  am  well,  notwithstanding  the  severe  cold  which  we  are  having, 
so  that  our  feet  are  at  times  almost  frozen.  The  essential  thing  is  that 
ever  since  the  already  distant  time  of  the  mobilization,  and  ever  since 
the  beginning  we  have  been  well  fed  and  we  have  had  means  for  warm- 
ing ourselves  during  winter  weather.  In  a  word,  our  France  is  not  ex- 
hausted as  far  as  resources  go,  and  that  is  why,  dear  Madame,  that  with 
your  help  and  co-operation  as  well  as  that  of  your  lady  compatriots, 
the  little  French  soldier  walks  firmly  and  has  an  excellent  morale. 

O. 

2898 — I  have  just  received  your  letter.  To  begin  with,  I  am  not  very 
cheerful  just  now,  because  I  have  come  out  of  the  hospital  after  an 
illness.  I  thank  you  sincerely  for  your  great  pity  for  me  and  for  your 
interest  in  me.  I  thank  you  a  thousand  times  for  your  generosity  and 
I  beg  you  to  believe  that  I  will  never  forget  it.  Later,  I  intend  to  write 
you  a  long  letter  giving  you  my  impressions  of  the  war — all  that  I  have 
seen  and  all  that  I  have  done.  This  exchange  of  letters  between  us 
will  be  a  comfort  to  me  for  all  the  hardships  I  have  gone  through.  I 
will  be  very  explicit  on  the  subject,  but  I  will  give  you  this  news  in  a 
manner  that  will  make  you  very  happy.  I  end  my  letter  in  promising 
to  write  you  a  much  better  one  when  I  am  a  little  stronger.  Mean- 
while, please  receive  my  most  respectful  compliments  and  my 
salutations.  E.  T. 

P.  S.— I  have  just  received  a  little  package  with  pencil  and  some 
cake  and  I  am  very  pleased.  I  beg  you  to  believe  it.  He  who  will  never 
forget  you. 

2902 — I  am  in  good  health  and  I  hope  you  are  the  same.    I  send  you  a 
view  of  the  church  St.  Elio  at  Dunkirk.    This  church  was  a  victim 
of  the  Bodies.  I  hope  to  come  to  see  you  to  wish  you  a  Happy  New  Year. 
Your  devoted  friend,  V.  D. 

2371 — Just  a  few  words  to  reassure  you.  I  hope  that  you  are  satisfied, 
because  the  official  reports  must  have  announced  it  to  you.  At  this 
moment  we  are  bivouacing,  although  without  straw,  and  on  damp  and 
frozen  ground.  Nevertheless,  we  are  happy.  It  is  very  cold,  especially 
at  night,  and  even  our  feet  are  like  two  pieces  of  wood.  We  build  big 
fires  to  warm  up.  The  hard  thing  is  to  get  to  sleep,  for  the  dampness 
penetrates  to  one's  marrow.  Yesterday  on  march,  my  knees  gave  out. 
To-day  they  are  all  right.  The  best  remedy  for  all  this  is  joking.  We 
laugh  at  our  misfortunes  rather  than  cry  about  them: 

2907 — I  write  to  thank  you  for  the  package  you  gave  me  during  my 
permission  in  Paris  and  to  tell  you  that  I  am  well.  I  am  always  with- 
out news  of  my  poor  family.  I  am  going  to  write  to  the  Minister  of 
Foreign  Affairs  to  ask  if  he  can't  get  any  news  for  me.  Once  more  I 
thank  you.  J.  P. 


56 


I  received  your  charming  letter.  I  will  willingly  write  Madame  R. 
I  am  never  tired  of  saying  that  France  is  fighting  for  justice,  for  a 
noble  cause.  Not  one  man  has  weakened.  We  all  see  the  victory  as  the 
result  of  our  terrible  trials.  Here  in  the  trenches  where  we  face  death 
in  the  rain  and  cold,  face  it  with  our  heads  up  and  our  minds  tranquil, 
trenches  broken  under  an  avalanche  of  bombs,  shrapnel,  and  all  the 
Teuton  inventions,  crushing,  mutilating  and  annihilating  humanity. 
Moments  when  we  think  of  our  loved  ones  at  home;  this  life  we  accept 
cheerfully  as  a  necessary  duty,  knowing  that  from  this  sacrifice  freely 
given  will  spring  the  source,  free  and  powerful,  to  liberate  the  entire 
human  race  from  the  military  oppression. 

I  have  expressed  so  badly  what  I  wish  to  say.  Please  forgive  me 
and  believe  in  my  grateful  devotion. 

2929 — Being  from  Wognihies,  my  district  being  invaded  since  August 
25,  1914,  I  am  without  news  of  my  wife  and  children,  my  parents, 
brothers  and  sisters,  and  therefore  without  resources.  I  have  been 
wounded  and  ill  and  I  am  at  this  moment  at  my  depot.  I  expect  to 
leave  here  in  about  two  weeks  for  Servia,  to  which  place  my  regiment 
has  already  gone,  so  if  you  can,  please  send  me  a  little  package,  as 
winter  is  coming  rapidly  and  I  need  cotton  socks.  Therefore  I  would 
be  grateful  if  you  could  do  something  for  me.  H.  D. 

2903 — I  write  you  these  few  words  to  let  you  know  I  am  wTell.  I  re- 
ceived the  package  you  sent,  with  great  pleasure,  particularly  as  I  am 
in  a  country  where  it  is  very  cold.  I  pray  God  every  day  to  let  me 
find  my  family  alive  at  the  end  of  the  war.  I  must  tell  you  that  I  am 
to  have  another  permission.  Can  you  not  find  some  charitable  person 
who  would  let  me  stay  with  them  for  the  four  days?  It  is  so  sad  for 
the  unhappy  soldiers  from  the  invaded  districts.  I  await  a  response  to 
my  letter,  as  I  am  to  go  one  of  the  first,  when  you  think  that  I  have 
never  left  the  trenches  since  the  beginning  of  the  war. 

Receive  my  sincere  salutations.  A.  B. 

2859 — I  have  just  received  your  letter  asking  me  if  my  Godmother 
takes  good  care  of  me.  The  only  thing  I  can  tell  you  is  that  I  never  have 
been  so  happy  since  the  beginning  of  the  war.  I  was  so  alone  and  no- 
body bothered  about  me  or  wrote  to  me.  Now  the  time  is  so  much  less 
long  to  me.  My  Godmother  sends  me  from  time  to  time  a  package.  I 
iust  have  received  one  to-day.  She  writes  to  me  sometimes  twice  a 
week.  She  seems  very  kind  and  has  been  of  the  greatest  help  to  me 
and  I  am  very  grateful  to  you  for  finding  a  Godmother  for  me.  I  have 
changed  my  secteur.  Unhappily,  the  trenches  are  full  of  water  and 
wet  above  our  ankles.  I  am  in  good  health,  however,  and  I  hope  that 
you  are  the  same.    Believe  in  my  gratitude.  A.  W. 

1779 — I  write  you  these  few  lines  to  let  you  know  I  am  still  well  and 
hoping  you  are  the  same.  I  just  received  your  letter  saying  that  you. 
have  arranged  for  me  to  stay  in  somebody's  house  in  Paris  for  a  little 
holiday.  I  saw  the  address  on  the  letter,  dear  Mrs.  M.,  and  it  was 
signed  by  the  General  Secretary  and  the  Police  Commission.  It  is  very 
cold  in  the  trenches  now.  Could  you  send  me  a  shirt,  as  I  am  very 
cold?  As  soon  as  I  know  when  I  come  on  my  permission  I  will  let  you 
know  and  come  and  see  you.  I  expect  to  see  you  very  soon.  Mean- 
while, I  shake  you  cordially  by  the  hand. 


57 


LETTERS  FROM  SOLDIERS'  WIVES 


1475 — Having  heard  of  your  devotion  to  the  soldiers  who  are  at  the 
front,  I  come  to  ask  you  if  you  would  kindly  have  something  given  to- 
me from  the  Ouvroir  for  my  husband,  who  has  been  with  the  army  since- 
the  first  days  of  the  war.  I  am  a  refugee  from  Arras,  with  my  three 
children,  and  my  house  there  has  been  completely  destroyed  by  the 
bombardment. 

172 — I  send  you  these  few  lines  to  give  you  news  of  me,  which  are  now 
a  little  better,  both  of  myself  and  of  my  little  boy.  I  must  tell  you  that 
I  have  sent  the  things  you  gave  me  to  my  husband.  Madame,  I  think- 
that  you  will  not  desert  me.   I  finish  my  letter  by  a  handshake. 

1886 — By  the  present  I  wish  to  address  to  you  all  my  thanks.  Mile. 
J.  has  given  me  some  socks  for  my  children  and  I  wish  to  thank  you 
also  for  all  the  nice  little  things  which  have  been  given  me  and  which 
have  rendered  me  great  service. 

1120 — Let  me  thank  you  for  your  kindness  on  my  account,  not  daring 
to  do  it  by  word  of  mouth.  You  are  good,  very  good;  you  give  with  tact, 
with  delicacy.  The  offer  of  tea  has  touched  me,  that  proves  that  you 
do  not  treat  me  as  one  generally  treats  workwomen,  for  you  see,  dear 
Madame,  I  am  in  vain  poor,  I  shall  always  have  my  birth;  that  is  why 
I  cannot  decide  to  go  to  an  ordinary  Ouvroir. 

I  am  very  unhappy;  I  have  been  very  rich,  of  a  great  family,  mar- 
ried to  a  good-for-nothing  who  sold  to  my  last  piece  of  furniture.  I 
must  work  to  live;  now  that  I  am  old  and  have  a  weak  heart.  There 
have  been  days  when  I  have  fainted  in  the  street  from  great  weakness, 
owing  to  want  of  food.  It  is  sad,  it  is  humiliating  to  have  to  confess, 
certain  things,  but  I  have  been  able  to  judge  of  your  kind  heart. 


58 


(Letters  from  Madame  B.,  whose  husband  was  a  member  of 
Odeon  Theatre) 

1769 — I  am  writing  you  to  ask  you  to  let  me  sew  for  you,  making  shirts 
for  the  soldiers.  This  is  how  I  am  situated.  My  husband,  a  member 
of  the  Odeon  Theatre,  has  been  at  the  front  since  the  beginning  of  the 
war.  Up  to  February,  the  theatre  helped  me.  Since  that  time  I  have 
been  obliged  to  live  on  twenty-five  cents  a  day.  I  have  never  lived  on 
that  amount  of  money  and  I  find  it  impossible.  I  am  an  artist  myself, 
a  pupil  of  Silvain.  I  have  not  been  able  to  find  any  engagement  since 
the  war  began,  neither  any  lessons.  I  am  recommended  by  Paul  Monnet 
and  Silvain,  members  of  the  Comedie  Franchise.  They  were  witnesses 
at  my  marriage  to  my  husband.  In  the  hopes  that  you  can  help  me,  t 
beg  to  thank  you  most  sincerely.  Madame  B. 

2380 —  I  have  heard  how  kindly  and  sympathetically  you  feel  towards 
all  those  who  suffered  by  the  war,  but  I  could  not  imagine  that  I  would 
be  so  well  received  as  I  was.  I  am  still  surprised  and  can  hardly  be- 
lieve it  possible.  It  is  like  sending  a  fairy  Godmother.  Cannot  tell 
you  how  grateful  I  am  to  you  for  your  help,  and  words  seem  insuf- 
ficient. I  have  written  the  lady  you  sent  me  to  and  although  I  am 
rather  nervous,  still  I  am  sure  as  you  sent  me,  that  she  will  be  kind. 
I  am  sure  you  would  not  send  me  to  anybody  who  would  be  less  kind 
than  yourself.  I  hope  on  my  visit  to  find  the  same  sympathy  I  found 
in  you.   A  thousand  thanks.         Yours  devotedly,  Madame  B. 

(Letter  from  her  husband) 

2381 —  I  do  not  know  what  words  to  use  to  thank  you  for  all  the  kind- 
ness you  have  shown  my  wife  and  myself.  We  were  in  such  pitiable 
condition  and  your  charity  and  kindness  have  given  us  new  life.  My 
wife  only  asks  for  work  to  permit  her  to  exist,  but  you  did  more  than 
that  and  occupied  yourself  personally  with  her  troubles  and  even  were 
troubled  to  know  if  I  needed  clothing.  You  gave  to  my  wife  several 
warm  garments,  which  were  an  actual  necessity  and  I  acknowledge 
that  they  gave  me  the  greatest  pleasure.  I  feel  very  rich  in  clothes 
now.  I  assure  you  that  finding  supposedly  society  women  who  take  the 
trouble  to  encourage  us  in  addition  to  the  material  help  they  give,  we 
find  most  helpful.  As  I  am  not  in  the  front  trenches,  but  the  com- 
missariat occupies  most  of  my  time,  I  perhaps  would  not  interest  other 
people,  but  the  interest  that  you  have  shown  to  us  makes  me  forget  my 
sadness.  The  sleepless  nights  that  I  pass  carrying  food  into  the  front 
trenches  in  the  snow  or  rain,  the  orders  which  are  carried  out  at  night 
on  foot  or  by  bicycle  in  the  cold  and  wet,  in  the  midst  of  all  this,  our 
anxiety  concerning  our  wives  and  children — perhaps  this  may  make 
you  realize  what  comfort  it  is  for  us  at  the  thought  that  they  are  not 
alone — that  there  are  kindly  people  who  try  to  comfort  them  and 
encourage  them,  at  the  same  time  enabling  them  to  live.  I  thank  you 
with  all  my  heart  and  I  am  only  awaiting  an  occasion  to  tell  you  myself 
how  grateful  I  am  to  you.  R.  B. 

May  this  letter,  written  the  last  of  the  year,  convey  to  you  for 
the  new  year  much  joy  and  happiness  on  this  New  Year's  day  when 
families  love  to  be  united.  You,  Madame,  have  only  thought  of  cour- 
ageously doing  all  for  alleviating  the  sorrows  and  sufferings  of  our 
poor  country  so  cruelly  tried.  May  it  at  the  same  time,  Madame,  per- 
mit you  to  see  what  is  in  my  heart  as  regards  yourself,  that  is,  that 
God  may  preserve  you  for  many  long  and  happy  years,  for  there  will 
also  be  years  filled  with  kindness  for  those  who  surround  you.      J.  G. 


59 


I  promised  to  send  you  the  names  of  our  Ardennes  villages  not 
affected,  I  ought  to  say  not  destroyed.  Here  are  some  particulars.  .  .  . 
I  am  very  grateful  to  my  friend,  Mile.  H.  S.,  for  having  introduced  me 
to  you.  I  have  very  pleasant  memories  of  our  meeting  and  am  greatly 
touched  by  the  sympathetic  reception  you  gave  me  and  my  little  girl. 

France  and  America  are  sisters  in  their  strong  desire  for  liberty 
and  in  their  respect  for  hereditary  discipline.  Both  think  that  tradition 
does  not  exclude  progress,  but  enlightens  it. 

I  hope,  Madame,  to  have  the  honor  of  seeing  you  this  winter.  Let 
me  express,  in  the  meanwhile,  my  great  admiration  for  your  work. 

1677 — Having  heard  from  my  husband,  who  has  been  at  the  front  since 
the  beginning  of  the  war,  that  you  are  very  kind  to  the  families  de- 
prived of  their  supporter,  I  wish  to  appeal  to  your  kindness.  I  am  left 
with  five  little  children  and  I  have  nothing  but  my  Govef nment  allow- 
ance. I  have  a  daughter  of  seven,  a  boy  of  five,  another  of  four,  a  sec- 
end  daughter  of  two  and  a  half,  and  another  little  girl  who  was  born 
on  April  4,  just  eight  months  after  my  husband's  departure.  You  may 
imagine  my  situation. 

Above  all,  I  have  not  been  able  to  grow  vegetables,  for  in  the  plant- 
ing season,  I  was  short  of  money,  and  I  must  therefore  buy  everything. 

It  is  dreadful  to  think  that  I  am  doing  nothing,  for  I  am  not  well, 
especially  after  the  birth  of  my  last  child,  when  I  was  not  well  tended. 
And  we  live  in  a  district  where,  since  the  beginning  of  the  war,  not 
even  a  loaf  of  bread  has  been  given  out. 

The  children  must  now  go  to  school.  I  have  three  children  to  shoe 
and  clothe  and  to  buy  aprons  for.  I  dare  not  think  of  it.  The  whole 
month  long,  we  must  eat  dry  bread  only,  and  everything  is  so  dear. 

This  is  my  situation,  and  it  is  dreadful.  I  cannot  say  how  grate- 
ful I  should  be  if  you  could  give  me  some  help,  Madame. 

1592 — I  have  just  heard  that  you  send  parcels  to  the  soldiers  at  the 
front,  so  I  take  the  liberty  of  recommending  my  husband  to  you.  I  am 
a  refugee  from  Soissons  and  I  have  four  little  children,  the  eldest  of 
whom  is  only  ten.  I  pay  five  francs  a  week  for  my  room  and  I  have 
enly  my  Government  allowance  to  live  on,  so  you  will  understand  that 
J  cannot  buy  anything  at  present.  All  my  children  are  barefooted; 
I  have  no  change  of  clothes  for  them.  If  you  could  do  something  for 
my  husband!  He  has  been  home  for  five  days,  and  I  could  not  give  him 
anything  to  take  back  to  the  front.  I  should  be  as  grateful  as  he  for 
the  good  you  do  him,  for  during  the  year  he  has  been  separated  from 
us,  no  one  has  given  him  any  assistance. 

1564 — I  have  heard  that  you  are  kind  to  the  soldiers,  and  that  is  why 
I  take  the  liberty  of  telling  you  of  my  misfortunes. 

My  husband  was  wounded  in  September,  1914,  at  the  battle  of 
Senlis,  and  has  now  returned  to  his  depot  in  Bretagne.  I  have  an  un- 
married brother  who  was  wounded  at  the  same  time,  and  another,  also 
unmarried,  who  has  been  at  the  front  since  the  beginning  of  the  war. 
My  mother  died  last  December.  We  are  two  sisters,  whose  husbands 
are  both  wounded.  In  order  to  be  able  to  send  them  a  few  things,  I 
work  a  little,  but  I  suffer  from  pains  in  the  head.  I  have  a  ten-year-old 
daughter  and  it  is  at  present  very  difficult  to  make  both  ends  meet. 
That  is  why  I  take  the  liberty  of  writing  to  you  to  ask  if  you  can  do 
anything  for  one  of  our  dear  soldiers. 


60 


I  come  to  thank  you  in  these  few  words  for  all  the  benefits  you 
have  showered  on  us,  on  my  children  as  well  as  on  my  husband;  by 
your  little  presents  and  your  consoling  words  while  he  was  at  the  front. 
But,  Madame,  his  letters  tell  me  always  that  his  first  visit  after  having 
embraced  his  family  will  be  to  the  Holophane  Ouvroir  to  thank  all  the 
ladies  there. 

As  for  me,  Madame,  I  was  very  sad  the  other  day  on  leaving  the 
Ouvroir,  not  to  find  you  to  thank  you  by  word  of  mouth.  That  is  why 
I  now  send  you  these  few  words  to  thank  you  very  sincerely  for  your 
kindness  towards  me  and  my  children.  In  the  meanwhile,  I  hope  to  have 
the  pleasure  of  thanking  you  personally. 

I  had  heard  often  how  kindly  you  receive  the  victims  of  the  war, 
but  I  could  never  have  hoped  to  see  my  request  for  work  received  in 
such  a  delicate  and  charming  fashion.  I  am  still  quite  full  of  surprise 
and  doubt,  in  spite  of  all  the  happiness  I  have  had  in  meeting  a  fairy 
"Misery  Dispeller"  who  is  willing  to  help  me  out  of  my  difficulties. 

I  cannot  tell  you  how  very  grateful  I  am  to  you  for  your  kindness 
and  your  charity.  I  regret  only  one  thing,  that  is  that  I  cannot  show 
you  my  sentiments  but  in  very  clumsy  phrases. 

My  unlimited  thanks  for  all  that  you  gave  me  yesterday  for  my 
husband.  It  makes  me  very  happy  to  think  that  with  all  these  good 
things  he  will  be  warm  and  I  beg  that  you  will  transfer  my  thanks  to 
the  other  lady  before  whom  I  was  so  upset,  because  of  her  sympathetic 
attitude.  When  my  husband  comes  back  I  will  not  miss  coming  with 
him  to  thank  you  personally  for  your  generosity.  Please  believe, 
Madame,  in  my  most  sincere  thanks.  M.  R. 


61 


350 — I  send  you  this  little  word  to  express  my  gratitude  for  the  clothes 
I  have  received  for  my  children.  They  have  given  me  great  pleasure 
and  render  me  great  service. 

2739 — I  am  coming  to  you  for  help,  as  I  am  passing  through  hard 
times.  I  am  expecting  a  baby,  and  as  I  have  been  ill  it  has  been  im- 
possible for  me  to  prepare  clothing  for  it.  My  husband  has  been 
mobilized  since  the  9th  of  March,  and  is  at  this  moment  in  the  hos- 
pital. Could  you  send  me  some  old  linen  or  old  clothes?  I  could 
make  use  of  them,  as  I  know  how  to  sew.  It  is  in  the  name  of  my 
children  that  I  ask  you  for  help,  for  as  for  me  I  know  that  in  these 
trying  moments  we  should  suffer  without  murmuring,  but  I  cannot 
get  used  to  seeing  my  children  suffer  for  what  is  indispensable. 

G.  G. 

2267 — Please  excuse  me  for  taking  the  liberty  to  write  you.  I  am  alone, 
for  my  husband  is  mobilized  and  at  the  front.  I  find  myself  in  great 
need  as  I  have  just  lost  my  child,  aged  four  and  one-half  months.  I  am 
still  ill  and  in  a  room  in  a  hotel,  and  as  I  only  receive  twenty-five  cents 
a  day,  which  I  am  obliged  to  pay  for  my  room,  it  is  impossible  for  me 
to  make  ends  meet.  Madame,  I  would  be  most  grateful  if  you  could 
come  to  my  help.  F.  A. 

2279 — Having  learned  of  your  Ouvroir,  I  come  to  solicit  from  your  kind 
heart  to  take  into  consideration  my  poor  soldiers.  If  I  ask  you  for 
help,  Madame,  it  is  because  my  poor  children  are  alone  and  in  need. 
I  am  a  refugee  from  Fourmies.  They  are  the  children  of  my  sister.  My 
sister  remained  in  the  invaded  districts,  so  she  cannot  send  anything 
to  her  children.  One  is  at  Verdun,  the  other  at  Toul.  I  send  them  what 
I  can  to  help  them.  They  had  hoped  to  come  back  on  leave,  but  they 
are  still  in  the  trenches.  They  cannot  come  back  and  they  ask  me  to 
find  some  one  who  will  come  to  their  help.  I  hope,  Madame,  you  will 
have  pity  on  these  poor  children  who  have  been  at  the  front  since  the 
first  days  of  the  war.  My  poor  sister  has  four  others  who  are  prisoners 
in  Germany  and  I  am  forced  to  send  them  bread.  Pity  for  them  who 
are  alone  and  for  me  who  is  a  refugee.  C.  B. 

2336 — Lately  I  told  you  that  my  husband  was  a  prisoner  and  at  the 
same  time  I  made  a  request  for  my  brother,  who  is  without  father  or 
mother,  and  at  the  front.  He  asked  me  to  send  him  a  sweater  and 
several  other  small  things,  but  as  I  am  a  refugee,  I  cannot  afford  the 
expense  and  therefore  I  appeal  to  your  generosity.  M. 

1109 — I  have  learned  that  you  come  to  the  help  of  the  unfortunate. 
I  am  a  refugee  with  four  little  children,  the  eldest  of  whom  is  seven 
years  old  and  the  youngest  five  months.  My  husband  is  a  prisoner, 
wounded  rather  seriously  in  the  right  leg  last  November.  I  have  been 
in  Paris  for  six  months  now  and  have  been  ill.  I  have  nothing  to  dress 
my  poor  children  in,  and  I  have  a  room  for  which  I  must  pay  four  francs 
a  week.  I  must  also  help  my  husband.  You  can  think  how  difficult  it 
is,  with  three  francs  and  twenty-five  centimes  per  day. 

629 — Having  had  some  particulars  of  the  work  you  are  superintending 
from  the  director  of  the  Garibaldi  Hospital,  where  I  am  working,  I 

wish  to  ask  you  to  be  so  kind  as  to  receive  the  soldier   ,  wounded 

at  the  front  and  now  in  convalescence  at  ,  who  is  to  return  to  the 

front  on  the  23d  inst.    He  will  call  on  you  in  my  name,  to  ask  you  to 
be  so  kind  as  to  give  him  a  few  articles  of  clothing. 


62 


I  have  the  honor  of  expressing  to  you  all  my  deep  gratitude  and 
my  best  wishes  for  you,  dear  lady  of  the  kind  heart,  for  having  kindly 
given  those  warm  clothes  to  my  son,  for  it  is  impossible  for  me  to  give 
him  even  a  little,  as  I  have  six  children  and  I  earn  very  little.  And 
so,  dear  lady,  I  cannot  thank  you  enough  for  this  pleasure. 

398 — I  do  thank  you  most  heartily  for  your  gifts — the  dressing-gowns, 
suits  and  the  caps  are  things  we  wanted  very  much,  and  their  arrival 
will  allow  of  the  men  getting  up  in  the  ward  with  comfort.  Indeed,  un- 
til within  the  last  few  days,  we  had  to  keep  some  men  in  bed  while 
their  clothes  were  being  cleaned,  as  we  had  no  lounge  suits  for  them. 

I  beg  to  thank  you  on  behalf  of  my  committee  and  of  that  of  the 
Staff  here;  we  are  indeed  indebted  to  you.  M.  St.  J. 

134 — It  is  rather  late,  I  fear,  to  thank  you  for  your  kind  presents  to  my 
husband  the  day  before  his  departure.  He  has  written  to  me  to-day 
from  the  trenches,  asking  me  if  I  had  thanked  you  for  the  things  you 
gave  him  and  which  are  so  useful. 

Please,  Madame,  receive  my  sincere  thanks  and  excuse  my  delay. 
With  three  children,  the  eldest  of  whom  is  eight  years  and  the  youngest 
twenty  months  old,  I  should  never  have  been  able  to  buy  these  things 
lor  my  husband. 

2737 — I  have  just  received  a  letter  from  my  husband,  who  is  at  the 
front.  He  requests  me  to  ask  if  it  is  possible  that  you  could  send 
him  some  warm  clothing,  principally  a  flannel  belt,  for  it  is  impos- 
sible for  me  to  send  him  anything,  as  I  have  been  ill  for  three  months 
and  have  two  little  children,  one  three  years  and  the  other  ten 
months.   You  would  be  rendering  me  a  great  service.  F.  J. 


63 


LETTERS  FROM  HOSPITALS 


2606 — In  answer  to  your  kind  inquiry  I  wrote  you  a  list  of  our  needs, 
but  I  imagine  that  my  letter  has  been  lost  as  I  have  not  received  them. 
I  therefore  beg,  Madam,  to  remind  you  of  the  hospital  toward  which 
you  have  been  so  charitable  for  a  year.  The  wounded  and  sick  suc- 
ceed each  other  without  interruption,  which  is  a  way  of  telling  you 
that  any  of  the  objects  you  have  in  stock  will  always  be  welcome. 
I  thank  you  a  thousand  times  for  all  you  have  done  for  our  dear 
wounded  and  for  what  I  hope  you  will  do  in  the  future.  With  all  my 
heart  I  remain,  S.  C. 

Having  learned  of  your  great  kindness  to  our  poor  wounded  sol- 
diers, I  implore  you  for  those  who  are  at  our  hospital,  94  Rue  de 
Charonne.  We  have  managed  to  beg  in  the  neighborhood  some 
hundred  garments  and  used  clothing,  but  in  this  quarter  the  popu- 
lation is  composed  almost  entirely  of  poor  people  and  their  resources 
have  been  rapidly  exhausted.  I  will  be  very  grateful,  Madame,  if  you 
could  give  a  little  share  of  your  charities  to  our  wounded,  who  would 
bless  you.  I  beg,  Madame,  that  you  will  accept  the  expression  of  my 
most  respectful  sentiments.  S.  J. 


Our  Mother  Superior  begs  me  to  thank  you  again  a  thousand 
times  for  all  your  interest,  devotion  and  the  delicate  attentions  which 
you  show  toward  our  hospital.  May  God  recompense  you  a  hundred 
times  and  accord  to  you  the  consolation  He  reserves  for  His  friends. 
Our  hospital  has  need  of  friends  like  you  to  get  along  and  do  good. 
We  have  need  of  so  much  at  the  present  moment.  Oh,  if  you  only 
knew  some  charitable  persons  who  would  be  willing  to  interest  them- 
selves in  our  poor  wounded  and  to  help  us  a  little  with  linen,  mate- 
rials, shirts,  drawers,  handkerchiefs,  towels,  bed  linen,  etc.  Every- 
thing is  needed  and  everything  will  be  received  with  the  greatest 
gratitude. 

Many  thanks  again,  dear  Madame,  and  please  believe  in  our 
real  gratitude  and  in  the  assurance  of  our  sentiments  of  religious 
attachment.  S.  M. 


I  would  have  liked  to  have  thanked  you  yesterday  for  the  great  sur- 
prise that  you  made  for  me  through  the  kindness  of  Mr.  F.  The  two 
dressing-gowns  and  the  two  cloaks  will  render  us  great  service,  for  we 
happen  to  be  without  anything  of  that  sort.  Our  little  hospital  is  full 
of  wounded  and  sick  soldiers,  and  I  thank  you  with  all  my  heart  for 
having  interested  yourself  in  our  dear  soldiers.  I  beg,  Madame,  that 
you  will  receive  the  expression  of  my  religious  respect.  R.  S. 

A.  B.,  whose  family  inhabits  my  parish,  has  been  kind  enough  to 
interest  herself  in  the  Auxiliary  Hospital  No.  10,  which  I  had  the  joy 
of  founding  in  October,  1914.  She  tells  me  that  you  occupy  yourself 
with  much  zeal  and  with  a  real  profound  devotion  in  coming  to  the 
help  of  hospitals  in  need.  With  all  confidence,  Madame,  I  come  to  you 
therefore  in  the  interest  of  our  dear  soldiers,  sick  and  wounded,  to 
solicit  your  help  and  generous  co-operation.  We  have  altogether  sev- 
enty beds.  What  would  be  of  the  greatest  help  to  us  would  be  before 
all,  shirts,  pillow-cases,  sheets  and  towels.  Permit  me,  Madame,  to 
offer  you  in  advance  the  expression  of  my  sincere  gratitude.       A.  L. 


64 


On  the  recommendation  of  Madame  V.,  Secretary  of  the  National 
French  Association,  of  those  who  died  for  their  country,  I  address 
myself  to  you  as  Presidentess  of  Auxiliary  Hospital  No.  280,  of 
Chaton,  to  ask  you  if  it  will  be  possible,  Madame,  to  have  supplied 
to  us  through  means  of  American  societies,  who  are  so  generous 
toward  French  hospitals,  different  linen  articles  which  we  lack  at  the 
moment.  Installed  since  September,  1914,  with  twenty  beds,  and 
having  been  forced  through  the  necessity  of  events  to  increase  the 
number  to  fifty,  we  find  ourselves  after  one  year  badly  off  for  linen 
and  underclothes.  I  am  taking  the  liberty  to  add  to  this  letter  a  list  of 
articles  of  which  we  have  the  most  pressing  need,  leaving  you  to 
choose  out  of  the  number  those  that  you  would  kindly  allow  us.  I 
hope  you  will  excuse  me,  Madame,  for  the  great  liberty  I  take  in 
addressing  you  in  this  somewhat  indiscreet  manner,  but  the  needs 
of  our  wounded  give  us  courage  to  do  so  and  especially  courage  to 
make  requests  for  them. 

I  beg,  Madame,  that  with  my  excuses  you  will  receive  my  thanks 
and  my  most  distinguished  salutations.  N.  T. 

List  of  linen  needed:  Undershirts,  drawers,  flannel  undershirts 
and  drawers,  sleepers,  towels,  hydro-filled  cotton,  bandages,  taffeta 
rags,  gauze  for  compresses. 


You  are  surrounded  by  so  many  requests  for  help  that  I  beg  to 
come  to  remind  you  of  the  Hospital  of  Saint  Vincent,  which  more 
than  once  already  has  benefited  by  your  generosity.  We  still  have 
the  same  number  of  wounded,  who  at  the  end  of  some  weeks  return 
to  the  front.  When  one  hears  from  them  all  that  they  have  suffered 
during  the  last  ten  months,  one  cannot  but  admire  their  courage, 
and  one  regrets  to  be  unable  to  give  them  what  might  help  to  make 
easier  the  hard  life  which  once  more  has  to  become  their  lot. 

Therefore,  I  will  have  to  count  on  your  generosity,  which  I  hope 
will  again  come  to  our  help,  and  I  thank  you  many  times,  Madame, 
assuring  you  of  my  most  respectful  gratitude.  S.  C. 


4 


I  thank  Providence  which  suggested  the  letter  that  I  received 
this  morning.  I  hasten  to  answer  it  in  order  to  allow  you  to  come 
to  the  help  of  our  distress.  I  do  not  know  through  whom  you 
learned  about  it,  but  your  informant  must  have  told  you  that  after 
having  undergone  bombardment,  invasion  and  pillage  we  have  had, 
for  the  last  four  months,  hundreds  of  wounded  who  have  very  quick- 
ly used  up  all  the  stock  of  our  articles  at  the  hospital.  We  have 
given  them  the  shirts,  sweaters,  drawers  and  socks  of  our  old  men; 
therefore  it  is  these  articles  which  we  lack,  for  to-morrow  about 
forty  soldiers  are  leaving  to  return  to  the  front  and  it  will  be  im- 
possible for  us  to  clothe  them  because  we  have  nothing  left,  and  these 
men  will  be  replaced  by  others  who  arrive  here  from  the  trenches 
in  a  pitiable  state,  and  so  it  is  every  week.  You  can  imagine  how  we 
suffer  in  seeing  these  poor  soldiers  who  have  already  been  wounded, 
sometimes  very  seriously,  and  then  return  to  fight  without  even  nec- 
essary articles  of  clothing  and  yet  they  leave  with  much  courage. 
If  to  the  shirts,  sweaters,  drawers  and  socks  could  be  added  scarfs, 
knit  woolen  mufflers,  belts,  towels,  handkerchiefs,  and  slippers  for 
the  convalescents,  you  would  render  us  a  great  service.  I  do  not 
dare  speak  of  soap  and  tobacco;  I  am  afraid  of  appearing  indiscreet. 
These  poor  children  are  so  happy  when  one  gives  them  just  a  little. 
I  beg  your  pardon  for  this  list,  but  I  know  that  Americans  are  gen- 
erous and  our  need  is  great.  In  advance,  Madame,  I  thank  you  a 
thousand  times  for  whatever  you  may  do  for  our  poor  wounded. 

S.  C. 

Permit  me  to  come  and  express  to  you  once  more  my  gratitude 
for  the  kindness  you  have  shown  toward  our  hospital  during  this 
first  year  of  the  war.  I  wish  to  thank  you  also  for  all  the  good 
articles  that  you  gave  us  yesterday  for  our  dear  wounded;  the  pa- 
jamas, dressing  gowns  and  cloaks — all  these  will  be  comforting 
as  well  as  useful.  I  wish  to  say  that  the  shirts  have  made  the  hap- 
piness of  our  Sister  who  has  charge  of  the  linen,  who  begs  me  to 
express  to  you  her  gratitude.  It  is  with  all  my  heart,  dear  Madame, 
that  I  thank  you  and  I  beg  you  will  accept  the  expression  of  my 
respect.  Sister  M.  R.,  Servant  of  the  Poor. 

P.S. — Madame,  here  are  two  hospitals  that  I  know  are  very  lit- 
tle favored  and  will  be  most  happy  to  be  included  in  your  charities: 
Auxiliary  Hospital  No.  80,  Rue  du  Chevalier  de  la  Barre,  40  Rue 
Montmartre;  Auxiliary  Hospital  No.  91,  at  the  Franciscan  Mis- 
sionarie,  11  Impasse  Erille,  Paris. 


Hospital  of  the  Bon  Secours,  66  rue  des  Plantes,  Paris 

I  have  just  learned  through  Madame  de  Cosse-Brissac  the  great  de- 
votion and  great  interest  that  you  give  to  the  cause  of  the  mutilated. 
1  thank  you  in  their  name  and  my  own,  having  had  my  leg  amputated. 

I  am  going  to  try  to  describe  to  you  the  distress  of  some  of  these 
unfortunate  children  in  order  to  reach  the  hearts  of  your  countrymen, 
to  whom  we  must  recognize  we  already  owe  so  much.  The  needs,  how- 
ever, are  so  great  that  one  must  continue  to  appeal  and  keep  on  appeal- 
ing, and  this  is  the  mission  of  women  of  heart  like  yourself,  a  mission 
for  that  matter  which  honors  them,  for  it  brings  out  the  greatness  of 
their  nobility  and  sentiments. 


66 


As  for  the  physical  sufferings  of  the  wounded,  I  will  not  speak  of 
them.  Sometimes  they  are  terrible,  but  then  they  are  temporary.  And 
again  the  wounded,  if  mutilated,  is  happy  to  have  saved  his  life.  He 
thinks  of  his  family  which  is  going  to  see  him  again;  he  thinks  also 
of  himself,  for  to  be  truthful  one  loves  to  live  when  one  is  only  20  or 
30  years  old.  It  is,  of  course,  foolish  to  use  the  word  "happy"  in  such 
a  misfortune,  but  it  is  right  to  judge  by  one's  self,  for  happiness  is, 
it  is  true,  relative.  It  is  only  later  on,  after  the  amputation  of  an 
arm,  of  a  leg,  sometimes  of  both,  after  the  terrible  loss  of  sight,  or  of 
one's  faculties,  that  the  unhappy  victim  of  the  war  begins  to  reflect. 
Happy  when  the  loss  of  one  of  his  members  does  not  forbid  his  exer- 
cising his  profession,  he  consoles  himself  easily;  but  if  he  has  to  start 
his  life  all  over  again,  that  is  terrible.  Learning  a  new  trade  or  pro- 
fession is  not  an  easy  thing  and  full  of  difficulties,  and  then  again  who 
knows  whether  he  will  succeed  in  his  new  occupation?  All  questions 
which  render  him  disquieted  and  afterwards  unhappy,  especially  if  he 
is  the  father  of  a  family.  Thank  God,  I  am  able  to  resume  my  former 
occupation;  but  my  comrades? 

Besides  the  mutilated  or  the  wounded,  whose  misfortune  is  more 
easily  recognized  because  it  is  so  visible,  the  unfortunate  men  who 
have  been  wounded  in  the  lungs  or  in  the  intestines  are  as  much  to 
be  pitied  and  are  as  worthy  of  pity.  They  always  remain  affected,  some- 
times for  a  long  while,  sometimes  for  all  their  life.  Therefore,  believe 
me,  those  who  are  wounded  in  the  war  are  worthy  of  the  interest  that 
you  have  for  them  and  of  the  help  that  all  charitable  people  may  give 
them.  Tell  all  this  to  your  compatriots  so  as  to  awaken  their  hearts 
to  the  fullest  extent. 

I  join  to  this  letter  a  photograph  of  the  hospital  where  we  are  being 
cared  for  by  the  sisters  of  the  Order  of  Augustines.  As  devoted  as  they 
are  untiring,  they  try  to  render  our  life  as  bearable  as  possible,  and  I 
assure  you  that  they  succeed  in  doing  this.  One  comes  soon  to  consider 
the  hospital  as  a  second  home,  which  is  very  natural,  for  one  finds  in 
them  mothers  as  tender  as  one's  own  mother.  All  sorts  of  pretexts  are 
found  for  organizing  little  recreations  in  order  to  distract  the  wounded. 
It  may  be  the  giving  of  a  medal  at  the  hospital;  it  may  be  the  birthday 
of  a  mother;  it  may  be  Christmas  or  New  Year's,  etc.,  etc.  Our  sojourn 
in  the  hospital  is  therefore  agreeable.  Our  difficulties  will  come  later 
when  the  wounded  returns  to  civil  life  and  will  be  met  with  new  difficul- 
ties in  earning  his  living,  difficulties  which  he  did  not  know  before  he 
lost  his  members  or  faculties.  The  different  societies  for  helping  the 
wounded  are  therefore  very  worthy  of  the  interest  of  the  generous- 
hearted  people  which  support  them. 

I  beg  you,  therefore,  to  be  our  interpreter,  our  pleader  with  your 
countrymen,  and  I  beg  you  to  accept  my  deepest  sentiments  and  my 
whole  gratitude. 

Signed,  Germain  (draftsman).    Boursier  (draftsman). 

Signed  also  by  Troel  (farmer).  Sergent  (furniture  mover).  Far- 
rad  (railway  man).  Rouzaive  (farmer).  Picat  (mason).  Bourigault 
(farmer).  Preyat  (sculptor).  Recas  (miner). 

Of  the  above,  Troel,  Sergent,  Rouzaive,  Boursier,  Preyat  and  Recas 
have  been  amputated  of  the  arm  and  will  be  unable  to  carry  on  their 
former  professions.  Farrad  with  his  foot  amputated  may  have  certain 
difficulties,  but  may  be  able  to  continue  in  railway  service. 

Picat,  formerly  a  mason,  having  lost  his  leg,  will  have  to  learn  a 
new  profession. 


LETTERS  RECEIVED  FROM  MADAME  J.  MACHEREZ,  WHO,  IN 
THE  ABSENCE  OF  THE  MAYOR  OF  SOISSONS,  ACTED  AS 
OFFICIAL  MAYOR  DURING  THE  OCCUPATION  OF 
SOISSONS  BY  THE  GERMANS,  ATTENDING  TO 
ALL  THE  BUSINESS  OF  THE  CITY 

It  is  with  the  greatest  pleasure  that  I  read  your  letter  stating  that 
you  would  like  to  send  a  parcel  for  our  soldiers  at  the  front.  What 
would  be  most  useful  at  this  moment  would  be  warm  drawers,  woolen 
vests,  woolen  shirts.  Choose,  Madame,  whatever  you  can  give.  For 
directions,  send  package  to  the  station  of  the  Northern  Railway,  for 
Madame  Macherez,  or,  if  they  offer  any  obstacles,  address  station  of 
Villers-Cotterets. 

I  send  you,  Madame,  the  expression  of  my  best  feelings,  with  all  my 
congratulations  for  your  devotion  by  which  our  soldiers  are  provided 
with  joy.  J.  M. 

I  have  just  received  your  precious  and  fine  gift.  I  thank  you  with 
all  my  heart  and  I  beg  that  you  will  tell  all  those  who  help  you,  how 
grateful  I  am,  and  how  much  their  work  is  appreciated  by  our  soldiers 
in  the  trenches  who  have  such  a  sad  and  hard  life.  I  send  you,  Madame, 
the  expression  of  my  best  feelings.  Very  much  touched  that  you  have 
thought  of  helping  me  in  my  work  at  the  front  with  the  army.    J.  M. 


A  SUM  OF  $10,000  IS  NEEDED  BY  THE  AMERICAN 
OUVROIR  IN  PARIS  TO  CONTINUE  ITS  WORK  OF 
GIVING     EMPLOYMENT     TO     WOMEN     IN  WANT. 


GS 


AMERICAN  OUVROIR  FUND 
20  Fifth  Avenue,  New  York 

(American  Ouvroir  Holophane,  156  Boulevard  Haussmann,  Paris) 

PATRONESSES 

COMTESSE  JACQUES  D'ARAMON 

THE  MARCHIONESS  OF  BLANDFORD 

COMTESSE  DE  BRIGODE 

PRINCESSE  JACQUES  DE  BROGLIE 

H.  H.  PRINCESSE  PIERRE  DE  CARAMAN-CHIMAY 

THE  COUNTESS  GREY 

HER  EXCELLENCY  MADAME  GEOFFRAY 
COMTESSE  D'HAUSSONVILLE 
DUCHESSE  DE  LA  MOTTE-HOUDANCOURT 
LADY  ERNEST  HAMILTON 
COMTESSE  JOACHIM  MURAT 
PRINCESSE  DE  LA  TOUR  D'AUVERGNE 
DUCHESSE  DE  TREVISE 

THE  AMERICAN  OUVROIR  FUND,  20  FIFTH  AVENUE, 
NEW  YORK,  HAS  PARTICULARS  AND  PHOTOGRAPHS 
OF  A  LARGE  NUMBER  OF  ORPHANS  WHOSE  FATHERS 
HAVE  DIED  FOR  THEIR  COUNTRY. 

FROM  $60  TO  $240  A  YEAR,  ACCORDING  TO  CHILD'S 
STATION  IN  LIFE,  ENABLES  ITS  MOTHER,  OR  A 
FRENCH  FAMILY  ADOPTING  IT,  TO  CARE  FOR  AND 
EDUCATE  AN  ORPHAN  IN  HOME  SURROUNDINGS 
SUITED  TO  ITS  CIRCUMSTANCES. 

WE  HAVE  A  LONG  LIST  OF  NEEDY  SOLDIERS  AT 
THE  FRONT  WHO  HAVE  NOT  HEARD  FROM  THEIR 
WIVES,  CHILDREN  OR  PARENTS  SINCE  THE  WAR 
STARTED,  WHO  WANT  GODFATHERS  OR  GODMOTHERS 
WHO  WILL  SEND  THEM  SOME  CLOTHING  AND  COM- 
FORTS AND  SHOW  A  PERSONAL  INTEREST  IN  THEIR 
LIVES  BY  WRITING  THEM.  $20  SENT  TO  THE  AMER- 
ICAN OUVROIR  WILL  KEEP  ONE  OF  THESE  MEN  IN 
WARM  CLOTHING  AND  SMALL  COMFORTS  FOR  SIX 
MONTHS.  FOR  PARTICULARS,  ADDRESS  THE  AMER- 
ICAN OUVROIR  FUND. 

THE  AMERICAN  OUVROIR  FUND,  20  FIFTH  AVENUE, 
NEW  YORK,  HAS  A  LIST  OF  NEEDY  MUTILATED  SOL- 
DIERS, EACH  NEEDING  $300  FOR  RE-EDUCATING  HIM 
IN  A  NEW  PROFESSION,  INCLUDING  A  YEAR'S  BOARD 
AND  LODGING. 

EACH  INDIVIDUAL,  OR  GROUP  OF  INDIVIDUALS, 
WHO  ADOPTS  ONE  OF  THESE  MUTILATED,  WILL  BE 
KEPT  INFORMED  OF  HIS  PROGRESS  AND  LIFE. 


69 


HOW  TO  MAKE  CONTRIBUTIONS  FOE  THE 
AMERICAN  OUVROIR 

The  American  Ouvroir,  156  Boulevard  Haussmann,  Paris,  will 
give  a  personal  accounting  to  each  individual  donor. 

Cheques  should  be  made  to  the  order  of 

J.  P.  MORGAN  &  CO. 

For  Account  AMERICAN  OUVROIR  FUND 

and  mailed  to  J.  P.  Morgan  &  Co.,  23  Wall  Street,  New  York. 

IT  IS  EARNESTLY  REQUESTED  THAT  CHEQUES  BE 
DRAWN  AS  ABOVE  AND  NOT  TO  INDIVIDUALS,  TO 
<    AVOID  CONFUSION  IN  KEEPING  THE  ACCOUNTS,  AS 
THE  AMERICAN  OUVROIR  CANNOT  OTHERWISE  AC- 
COUNT TO  THE  INDIVIDUAL  DONOR. 

When  the  gift  is  intended  for  a  specific  purpose  the  donor 
should,  when  the  cheque  is  mailed  to  the  banker,  write  direct  to 
the  American  Ouvroir,  20  Fifth  Avenue,  New  York;  stating 
amount  sent,  and  his  wishes  regarding  expenditure  of  the  donation. 

CONTRIBUTIONS  OF  MATERIALS  AND  CLOTHING,  ETC. 
These  should  be  sent  express  prepaid  addressed  to 

WAR  RELIEF  CLEARING  HOUSE 

133  Charlton  Street,  New  York 

FOR  THE  AMERICAN  OUVROIR 

156  Boulevard  Haussmann,  Pans 


Notice  of  shipment  with  list  of  contents  of  packages  should  be 
mailed  to  the  Executive  Secretarv  of  the  War  Relief  Clearing 
House,  40  Wall  Street,  New  York." 

A  copy  of  this  list  of  contents  should  be  mailed  to  The  Ameri- 
can Ouvroir,  20  Fifth  Avenue,  New  York. 

Please  pack  in  boxes  or  bales  of  four  (4)  cubic  feet  whenever 
the  articles  permit  this. 

MATERIALS  and  Articles  Needed  by  the  American  Ouvroir 
For  Men:  J 

Shoes,  shirts,  drawers,  undershirts,  sweaters,  woolen  and  cot- 
ton socks,  trousers,  coats,  vests,  overcoats,  scarves,  caps  or  soft  hats, 
woolen  blankets,  handkerchiefs,  towels  and  bed-linen. 

For  Women: 

Shoes,  waists,  blouses,  drawers,  woolen  and  cotton  stockings, 
woolen  or  cotton  petticoats,  skirts,  shawls,  capes,  woolen  blankets, 
cotton  and  linen  handkerchiefs,  towels  and  bed-linen. 

For  Girls  and  Boys: — Similar  articles. 

71 


